#its so weird to ship them like. the man raised anakin. he is his older brother. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

giggles-and-freckles · 3 years

Note

84 or 33 with Obi-wan?

from this angst/fluff prompts list

[84. “going somewhere?”]

Silently, Anakin took the silent steps that had become familiar to him over these past few weeks. Normally, he had to wait for Obi-Wan to go to sleep–which was a task on most days–but Obi-Wan had night patrol tonight, so he only had to worry about the thousands of other potential Jedi who could or could not be wandering about the Temple at this hour.

He tapped out a message on his comm link, letting her know that he was on the way and would be there soon.

He walked from his personal quarters to the exit of his shared living space with Obi-Wan, anticipation and excitement at getting to see her quickening his pace and adding an admittedly childish bounce to his steps. Anakin raised his hand to open the door, crossing that final threshold–

“Going somewhere?”

Anakin almost fell to the floor.

“Master,” he exhaled, taking in the head that had appeared over the back of the couch. Obi-Wan’s eyes seemed to be glowing in the reflection of the midnight Coruscanti traffic lights. “I–I thought you had rotation tonight.”

“I traded with Master Mundi.”

“Oh,” said Anakin lamely. It seemed strange that Obi-Wan would give away the easiest shift at the Temple. Jedi only got rotated in about once a month what with the war starting and so many Jedi being off-world at once. Easy night patrol shifts didn’t come often.

Then, Anakin remembered that this conversation had started with a question.

A question he had no kriffing clue how to answer.

“Why are you sleeping out here?” Anakin parried, hoping his own question would make Obi-Wan forget his. He shifted away from the door.

“Oh, I’m afraid I haven’t gotten much sleep,” said Obi-Wan, running a tired hand across his face. “I was out here in hopes of catching you in the morning before you left.”

Anakin noticed something indistinguishable briefly shift on his face.

“I ship out at 0600,” said Anakin with a regretful shrug, one foot already pointed back toward the door. He just needed Obi-Wan to go to his room. “But I’ll be back in a few rotations. It’s just a supply run.”

“Even so, I wanted to speak with you sooner rather than later.”

Anakin’s stomach dropped.

Obi-Wan knew. He knew it all–the wedding, the Tuskens, everything.

“Today was...eventful for me,” continued Obi-Wan. “I wanted to run some things by you. Since you’re awake...I’d like to speak with you now, if it’s convenient.”

Convenient. What a funny word to say to a man who had just begun a secret marriage to the Senator of Naboo. Anakin wasn’t very familiar with things being convenient.

He glanced toward the door, thinking of his wife, waiting for him across the city. They hadn’t been married a full month yet, but midnight escapes to the Senatorial Residence had become the highlight of his day.

His gaze returned to Obi-Wan, who he realised looked a little out of sorts. His hair, normally groomed to perfection, looked as if it had had fingers ringing through it. His outer robe was tossed to the floor, instead of neatly folded or hung in his closet. Obi-Wan had a habit of losing his robes in battle, but never in their quarters. Anakin couldn’t think of a single time Obi-Wan had lost anything in their quarters that he was so adamant about keeping pristine.

“Of course,” said Anakin, his heart tightening. “We can talk now. I was just...going for a walk.”

“I’ll join you then,” said Obi-Wan, standing from the couch with a look of twisted relief and worry. That wasn’t like his master at all.

Anakin tapped out a quick message on the comm at his side and took a breath, hoping Padmé would understand.

They walked the halls for several minutes before Obi-Wan finally broke the silence.

“The Council spoke with me today.”

That wasn’t abnormal. With the war and Obi-Wan’s quick work of proving his military leadership prowess, Anakin’s former master had found himself meeting with the Council almost every day.

“That’s where I was at lunch.”

Anakin quirked an eyebrow and snuck a sideways look at the older Jedi. Even when he was training Anakin, Obi-Wan had never felt the need to notify his Padawan of his every routine detail. Anakin tagged along when he was instructed to do so and when he wasn’t, he didn’t ask questions. That was that.

It seemed weird that Obi-Wan would choose now to notify his former student of his whereabouts as if he owed Anakin any sort of explanation.

“All right,” said Anakin slowly. “I didn’t see you in the refectory, but it was no big deal. I was with Aayla anyway.”

“Good,” Obi-Wan nodded. “Good.”

When Obi-Wan didn’t elaborate, Anakin continued to lead the way down the halls. They passed a few nocturnal Jedi, but the Temple had been silenter than usual lately, even during the day. One of the side effects of its members being strewn about the galaxy, trying to hold the pieces of the Republic together.

“When I was a Padawan,” Obi-Wan began again, his breathing shallow and short, “Qui-Gon was faced with a big decision and he...he never told me. Well, that’s not quite fair,” he amended quickly. “He did tell me, but it was after the Chancellor had accidentally informed me.”

Anakin didn’t have any idea where Obi-Wan was going with this, so he stayed silent.

“I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, but I was...hurt. I felt like Qui-Gon’s choice to not tell me on his own was a reflection of his lack of faith in me. I now see that was foolish.” He shook his head and Anakin was surprised to feel a twinge of regret emanating from Obi-Wan’s Force presence. He’d never sensed that in Obi-Wan before. “But, even so.” Obi-Wan took a deep breath and Anakin felt the energy between them neutralise with a zap, as if there had never been any regret at all. “I don’t want you to feel that way.”

“Master, I don’t–I don’t understand.”

“Right,” Obi-Wan took another breath. “Well, you see...the thing is–” he cleared his throat. Clearly stalling.

“Obi-Wan.”

“I’ve been asked to fill Master Billaba��s seat.”

Anakin stopped walking. “What? The Council? They...they asked you to join?”

Obi-Wan couldn’t seem to make eye contact with Anakin. “They did.”

“Master!” Anakin’s face split into a grin. “That’s amazing!”

The older Jedi looked up, hesitantly. “It...is?”

“What do you mean it...is?” Anakin scrunched his face, throwing an arm around Obi-Wan’s shoulders. “Yes, it is! That’s such an incredible honour!”

“Well, I suppose I rather thought you...wouldn’t approve.”

Anakin startled at that. Wouldn’t approve? Sure, Anakin had held some small frustrations with the Council over the years, but being asked to fill a Council seat was the highest honour in the Jedi Order. Surely Obi-Wan didn’t think Anakin wouldn’t want that for him.

“I don’t see why my approval matters. It’s your life, Obi-Wan.”

A touch of pain jumped across their bond, surprising Anakin. “I care about your opinion, Anakin. Always.”

Anakin had never considered this before. His former Master had never done anything to lead Anakin to believe he didn’t value Anakin’s thoughts and opinions, but he supposed he had been so accustomed to not being heard when he had first begun his apprenticeship, he’d never taken the time to see how different that was with Obi-Wan.

Looking back now, he realised Obi-Wan was absolutely right. He had always shown concern and care for Anakin’s opinion.

“You accepted, right?”

“I haven’t made a decision. I wanted to speak with you first.”

Once again, Anakin felt like he was punched in the gut with the weight of consideration Obi-Wan was paying him. “But you’re going to say yes...right?”

“Anakin,” said Obi-Wan with a flicker of an exasperated smile. “What part of I’d like to hear your opinion on this matter has been unclear?”

The younger knight blinked. “Oh. I...well, Master–you’re...you’re the greatest Jedi I know. The Council would be infinitely better because of you.” Then, because Obi-Wan had let his guards down and was dishing out the affirmations tonight, “As I am.”

“I–oh. Thank you, Anakin.” He didn’t seem to know what to do with his former apprentice’s words, but his eyes shone with gratitude and warmth. He hesitated, chewing on his lip. “So you...truly believe I could do it?”

Anakin had to catch himself from chuckling as he realised just how painfully nervous and insecure Obi-Wan was. He’d never seen him like this before.

It was comforting, seeing this unguarded humanity in his former master.

“Yes, Master. I don’t know anyone who could do it better.”

“Thank you, my pad–Anakin.”

Anakin grinned. He’d struggled more than Obi-Wan with the recent adjustment of his rank in the Order. “You’re welcome, Mas–Obi-Wan.”

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and resumed their walk.

“Obi-Wan,” the younger Jedi called after him, his voice no longer teasing and light. Obi-Wan stopped and turned over his shoulder with raised eyebrows. “Thank you. For...caring about my opinion.”

Obi-Wan smiled, kindly, his eyes crinkling at their corners. “I am not as much fond of your opinion as I am fond of you, my friend.”

#my fic #obi & ani #who else???#watched aotc last night and just wanted to crawl through the screen and force them to HUG EACH OTHER dangit #do Jedi have temple patrol shifts??#probably not but they do now bc I said so #fluff prompts #writing prompts #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #sw fanfic

108 notes · View notes

goddamnmuses-a · 4 years

Text

Dan Watches: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

Alright so I did this for Episode I which you can find here. So.. here’s my weird.. live reaction/note taking/whatever this is.. to Episode ll.

Alright so.. Once again the opening crawl is very politicy.

Count Dooku I think is mentioned for the first time in it and Padme becomes a Senator instead of a Queen in it.. which.. is weird.

The Naboo ships im not sure about.. I like the design but they seem too new and clean for being a prequel. That said they are owned by royalty so i can let it slide i guess.

“I guess i was wrong, there was no danger at all” *EXPLOSION* ffs Jeff, you couldn’t keep your mouth shut?

Nooooooo! Not.. Cordey? Omfg that was the worst death i’ve ever seen. Terribly acted.

Ayy it’s the Jedi avengers, no but like why is like i presume the whole or half the jedi council in this meeting? Shouldn’t they have like 1 representative?

Yooo thats live action Barriss Offee in the back... hey girrrll ;)

actually she’s probably supposed to be like 13 or somehting so i take that back.

I love just all the traffic flying by the window

YOOOO it’s my boy Jar Jar aka Darth Plagueis the Wise, don’t @ me.

Spice mines on the moon of Naboo you say? Isn’t Spice a drug but you mine for it.. there are drug miners in Star Wars.. good stuff.

That elevator would be terrifying.

Obiwan just like.. LOL I fell into a nest of Gundarks.. what a character I am. .. Love him.

Anakin like “I haven’t seen her since i was underaged master.. now i can get my fuck on!”

ALSO ITS BEEN 10 YEARS!?

“Ani you’ll always be that little boy” *Police sirens*

Anakins a little bitch

I think Jar Jar’s ears things are much longer.. but might just be me imagining things.

She’s not forgotten you, she said your name.. you creep.

Heeyy look it’s your custom star wars character Zam.

Obiwan is so sassy

Anakin is pretty creepy towards Padme.

Those worm things are naasty

Yo tbf that was some smooth lightsabering, they were like an inch tall and right up on Padme and he didnt even hurt her accidentally. I’d have killed her there.

Obiwan just fucking dives out the window like its nothing. Mad man.

Zam is the worst, instead of shooting Obiwan she shoots her own damn droid.

Damn it Anakin, he’s told you to stay away from power couplings.

Obiwan is just gonna be like “FFS ANAKIN!” this entire movie... well.. Saga.

I wonder how Jedi pick their robes because like some are very similar and then theres like a few that have darker leather stuff, it’s like there’s a jedi stylist or something.. Someone make that OC.

Amazing catch Obi.

So Obiwan is his real name but he goes by Ben later on and then Ben Solo is named after him but shouldn’t it be Obiwan Solo?

A changeling, she really is a custom character.

Yoo that Twilek wasn’t stupidly thin, I’m here for Thicc Twilek.

What species is Death Stick guy! I wanna know what he does with his life after he rethinks it

I hope it backfires and he’s like “Hey.. I could be doing so much more” and he ends up like the head of a crime family.

She didnt even change.. so much for changeling.

....she did when she died i take it back.

Damn the background Jedi are ugly.

I like how this shows that Palpatine has already begun manipulating Anakin.

Still dont understand why Jedi see the balance being a good thing when it’s leaning heavily towards the light side right now.

Anakin “IM READY FOR THE TRIALS!” .. you aint. You a moody bitch.

I like Padme’s dress.

Anakin just got warned to back down because he’s being a creep.

Omfg whats that rape face.

Dormy or whatever her name is, better actress than Padme.

Poncho! Cal approves.

WOO ITS DEX!

Jawa Juice? Ew.

Wtf is the Rishi maze?

Dex suddenly went sinister at the end, why?

Yess the librarian! She’s the best. I think she has a badass Order 66 story if im remembering correctly.

She’s very sure about her records though.. calm down lady.

“No droids” says the droid to the other droid.

So i presume the head of the Jedi Council is always the one who looks after the younglings.

Awwh the little babies and they’re all gonna get killed by Creep Vader.

Yoda is so soft, good dad figure. Best boy.

They elect queens on Naboo.. thats interesting.

I love the Jedi fighter look.

HOLD THE FUCK UP THEY DIDNT KNOW ABOUT KAMINO

THERE WAS A FUCKING LONG NECKY ALIEN ON THE JEDI COUNCIL IN EP 1..

.... some bullshit.

I should really look into Sifo Dyas

And Why are there not more Clones in Star Wars...

Other than like.. .. spoilers for.. you know what nevermind.

I DONT LIKE SAND! HE SAID THE THING

Anakin you creep

Why the fuck would Padme even lean in at all? He’s been nothing but a creep and she’s shown 0 interest in him at all so far.

The Camino people are pretty chill.

That was the first bit of actual chemistry between Padme and Anakin

Omfg the pear, fuck off.

Also forgot to comment but theres some clear like.. oohhhhhh moments im having with how order 66 got set up.

Has Padme had an outfit change again?

She’s got her sexy outfit on to turn him down.. seems right.

Her make up is a bit.. much

Sooo the force is weaker with the jedi because the light sides had it so good for so long that the force is trying to balance out and bring it back the other way, makes sense.

It’s actually his connection to his mom that brings him towards the darkside to start.. nice.

Padme trying to be inconspicuous is super conspicuous

I like that the droid said okey dokey.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY WATTO

YAAAAY ANI SPEAKING HUTTESE

I love how Watto is happy to see Ani.

Watto doesn’t deserve the shitty life he ended up with.

Love some New Zealander up in my Star Wars.

Seismic charges have such good sound design.

Thats one hell of a missile.

Eyyyyy it’s c3p0 it’s amazing how much i’d forgot of this.

Tusken Raiders are dicks. They know sign language but they’re dicks.

Even Anakin is like “These are good people”, good. They’ll raise your son.

Is that general grevious’ voice?

What the fuck are these aliens

Awwwh noooo she waited just to die in her sons arms.

Tbf i’d go full darkside if someone tortured my mom.

You know what.. this Ani is nothing like the ones from the cartoon, he seems like less of a whiney bitch in the clone wars but we’ll see..

Cleg Lars’ hover chair is pretty dope.

Anakin got over hating Obi Wan real quick.

Even captured Obiwan is a sassy boy.

Jar Jar as badass as he is.. is basically putting the Sith Lord in charge.

So far if you dont know that palpatine is the Sith there isnt really anything obvious telling you which is pretty interesting.

Padme has had another outfit change, another iconic look.

And so behind the adventures of r2 and c3po

C3PO had a costume change, he’s been watching Padme.

The fake out they have you thinking Padme is covered in magma is pretty good

Okay then suddenly she loves him.

Also bye bye lightsaber

Genosians are pretty gross

In my head they were always the same as Toydarians for some reason

I like that bug monster, i remember killing them in one of the older battlefront games.. as maybe Aayla Sekura but maybe i made that up.

Anakin surely got the best one to fight. He basically tames it.

The fucking peck on the cheek, was that needed?

Droidekas are still cool as fuck.

Suddenly Jedi.

The Jedi that made it up to Dooku is terrible, he cant even reflect a few blaster blasts.

Well.. Jango lost his head.

The smile on that green jedi’s face is beautiful, what a beautiful alien man. Kit Fisto.

Obiwan is an icon.

Dooku is pretty reasonable all things considered.

Woo clones!

“Around the survivors, a perimiter, create.” Yoda.. just speak normally damnit.

Yoo what if Jaro Tapal shows up in the new Clone Wars cartoon season.. i’d lose my shit.

I like Dooku’s bike.

Anakin you dumb fuck.

I always thought Dooku’s curved lightsaber was weird.

Rey should have done this sick ass catching the lightning trick instead of the two lightsabers.

Jedi flips all over the place woop.

As obvious as it is that Palpatine is the hooded Sith, i feel like they dont show his full face because i feel like a little kid might not be able to tell.

I kinda like how it shows a bunch of clones (the basic start of the stormtrooper) and then star destroyers and it’s like.. heres where the empire started.

Aaaaaand they’re married? so yeah.. congrats Ani you creeped your way into being a husband.

#ooc #dan watches #dan reacts

2 notes · View notes

shadowsong26fic · 7 years

Text

Another Random AU Because Why Not

A couple months ago, I outlined a Heralds of Valdemar crossover/fusion/AU (which I’ve done some more Pondering on since then because it’s fun/hilarious). And then I did the Rabbit Hole AU, which was even more hilarious/fun.

Anyway, now that I’ve plugged my previous crack AUs, as you do, I have decided to outline another one! And for Reasons, it’s #10 on my List of Things I’ll Never Actually Write.

::ahem::

Without further ado, I present to you: Bail Organa Unfucks the Timeline

So, point the first (and this is an important one): Bail doesn’t know how he died.

I mean, he kiiiiiiiinda does? Like, the thought occurs (once he has a second to think, which takes a while, as we’ll see shortly). He knows what happened to Jedha, and possibly to Scarrif (which I can’t spell). But at the same time, there’s this sort of denial aspect to it. Like--even Tarkin would never.

(Also, he didn’t actually see the Death Star. He was not near a window/on the wrong side of the planet/something.)

So, he decides he had a stroke or something.

Point the second (also important): That whole ‘inform the Senate that all aboard were killed’ message? Never reached him. Because a) Alderaan had no actual Senator in place on Coruscant/Imperial Center/whatever the cool kids are calling it these days at the time to hear said message, and b) the Senate was dissolved like five minutes later so whichever of his friends drew the short straw on that one got a wee bit distracted.

All clear? Good! On to the fun stuff.

So, one minute, Bail is in his study, going over maps or supply routes or other war-preparation-y things with a trusted aide, and the next, he’s back on Christophsis.

More specifically, he is being tackled to one side by someone yelling “GET DOWN, SIR” just as something explodes over his head.

Which leads to: wait why is a stormtrooper tackling me wait how did a stormtrooper get into my study wait that helmet is twenty years out of date wait how did I get outside wait why is the sky the wrong color WAIT WHY IS THE SKY ON FIRE

Bail needs a minute.

And a drink.

(Why is he even on Christophsis while the sky is on fire? Is there actual canon explaining this? Do I care? ...probably not.)

In the interests of not, y’know, dying, Bail decides to just run with it for a while, until he has some breathing room and can figure out wtf is going on.

Bail is a very smart man.

Eventually, he gets his five minutes and comes to the conclusion that nope, this is not a dream, I am apparently back in the past, the War is in its early days. I can, quite possibly, fix things. Stop Palpatine. Save the Republic/Galaxy.

This seems like an excellent plan.

(NB: He is aware that doing this means losing his daughter--or at least his relationship with her/her as he raised her. And a part of him will always wish that...a part of him will always mourn her, and that world/life he lost. But this is the one thing that is worth that sacrifice. Plus, if he missed this chance, the Leia he raised would never forgive him. So a part of him is doing this for her. Giving her the galaxy she deserves, despite how much it costs him.)

The question then becomes...well, how?

He eventually decides to focus his work on the Senate, and try to limit Palpatine’s expansion/power/ascent as much--and as subtly--as he can.

Subtly because, well, he would very much like to not get caught and killed.

Not getting killed also seems like an excellent plan.

Also, pretty much no one is on to Palps yet. I mean, yeah, there are people side-eyeing him a little bit for holding on to/accumulating power the way he does, but what Chancellor hasn’t been accused of such things? And it’s not...it’s not like it will be two and a half/three years from now. And Bail cannot afford to alienate allies he will need later, depending on how successful he is/how long this takes.

Bail has been doing this for a while. He is not taking his success for granted. He is covering all his bases, just in case.

Fortunately, Bail has twenty years of running an underground resistance under his belt. This? This, he can do.

There are other problems too, of course. Like...the War is an actual thing that still needs to be resolved. But there’s not much Bail can personally do about it, not while Palpatine and Dooku are, between the two of them, derailing any attempts at negotiation. Apart from, of course, careful Senate maneuvering to remove Palps from power.

(He’ll figure out a way to deal with Dooku/Grievous/Etc. later. One problem at a time.)

Next question--who does he read in on all of this?

Breha, of course--she is his wife, and his partner. He needs her beside/behind him. Plus, it’s not exactly fair to her, to keep her in the dark about this. She’ll be expecting the husband she knows to come home to her, not a man made...let’s say incredibly cautious by twenty years of, essentially, espionage. To say nothing of the fact that he raised a child, and they’re still--trying. There’s a lot of emotional baggage there, too. They’ll make it work, somehow, he knows they will--but she needs to know. She deserves the truth from him, no matter how hard it is for him to explain/how hard it is for her to hear.

(Look, I have a lot of FEELINGS about Bail and Breha’s relationship. Even though I kind of ship him and Obi-Wan [for which I mostly blame Reprise, despite the fact that said fic doesn’t actually ship them], if I ever wrote something with the two of them together [as I might in this fic, and sort of am in one other though that one it may never actually come up on page], it would be with Breha’s full knowledge and consent. ...end random tangent, sorry.)

As for everyone else...he decides to wait and see, feeling people out as likely possibilities. Just like he and Mon did for twenty years, building the Alliance. Only this time, the barometer is more “who will believe me” as opposed to “who won’t betray me.”

(He’s aware that Obi-Wan and Padme should be pretty high up on that list but--hell, where does he even start?)

(He decides to shelve that problem for now. He’ll tell them when the time is right. ...hopefully, he’ll know when that time arrives.)

And now, the moment I’m sure you’ve been waiting for--how do we approach the whole Darth Vader issue?

You thought I’d forgotten about it, didn’t you.

(I didn’t.)

(Neither did Bail)

Okay, so, the problem, as he sees it, is that he’s...not exactly in a position to intervene.

He had no real personal connection with Anakin the first time around.

Sure, they worked together on occasion, and their relationship was certainly cordial when they did, and of course they had a mutual friend or two, but all their interactions were fairly distant/professional.

Besides, while he can extrapolate/guess a fair amount of what happened (and, more important, how/why it happened), he has no actual knowledge/frame of reference for how accurate his guesses are. (Because, LBR, even Obi-Wan might not know the full story, though he’s at least guessed almost all of it, and even if he did, he wasn’t exactly talking about it in the five minutes they were working out what to do with the twins, etc.) And if he’s wrong, he might well make things worse.

The second problem is that he has no idea how he’ll feel about/react to meeting Anakin again, given that basically the only real context he has here is the future he lived and is now trying to avert. He figures there’s two ways its likely to go:

Option one, nightmare scenario: He meets General Skywalker, and all he sees is Vader. This is...nooooot exactly very productive/conducive to him getting done what he needs to get done. In this case, Bail will avoid him as much as possible, and try to find a way to tip off Padme and/or Obi-Wan.

Option two, acceptable scenario: He meets General Skywalker, and there is a total disconnect between the person he is now and the monster he could become (did become? might become? time travel is weird). In this case, Bail will keep things more or less as they were last time; and focus on derailing Palpatine and fixing the problems in the Senate, and hope that that makes a difference.

And he’ll try to find a way to tip off Obi-Wan and/or Padme. Bail ain’t stupid.

Of course, there are two major factors here that Bail hasn’t considered.

For starters, he’d forgotten how young Anakin was.

True, some of the other Jedi Generals weren’t all that much older (to say nothing of the Padawan Commanders), and he knows there were too-young soldiers in the Alliance, too, but at the same time...

It hadn’t stuck out to him all that much the first time--maybe because it, unfortunately, wasn’t unusual/was just How Things Worked, and his personal context had been of course different, as he’d been significantly younger himself. But, despite that and the continued youth of the Rebellion... Look, dropping back into the GAR now, and seeing this twenty-year-old kid put in these situations is another thing entirely when one is on the far side of sixty (mentally, at least) and all too recently had a child his age.

ON A RELATED NOTE, major factor the second: Bail hadn’t realized just how much like Leia Anakin was.

So, when they finally do meet, Bail starts noticing all kinds of little details--a certain insouciant little smirk, a particular defiant lift to his chin, a familiar inability (equal parts endearing, alarming, and incredibly frustrating) to keep from mouthing off...

So...all of this basically means that, when Bail encounters Anakin, every instinctive Papa Wolf fiber of his being says, “This is my child now. Fight me.”

(well, not so much “fight me.”)

(Bail isn’t really a “fight me” sort of dude.)

(But you get the point.)

So now, Bail has to add ‘bond with Anakin Skywalker and help keep him sane’ to his increasingly-daunting to-do list.

This actually turns out to be...not as difficult as he expected?

(the first half, anyway)

Because, yeah, there’s a bit of a shaky start because Anakin Does Not Like politicians

(unless they’re from Naboo)

(and their name starts with Pa)

But once he works his way past that, it’s--Anakin likes having friends, he wants to like people, and he wants people to like him. Making Friends not his superpower, like it is with Luke, but it’s actually pretty easy to win his affection and respect, if you just reach out to him a little.

(thinking of that one meta post that was going around a couple days ago, about the bit with Ki-Adi Mundi at the Second Battle of Geonosis, talking about how--you know Another Friend in the Order, and then Obi-Wan says it’s a rare thing and look at how it wasn’t actually that hard for Mundi and--anyway, that sort of thing, y’know?)

So, Bail reaches out, and makes friends.

(Good Lord, he thinks, does this kid need a dad. Obi-Wan was that, and did very well, for a while at least, but he’s too thoroughly made the transition to ‘brother’ since the war started and Anakin was Knighted to fill that need.)

(You know what else he needs? is the next thought, as Anakin runs off into unnecessary danger AGAIN. A goddamn leash.)

So, we’re still pretty early in the War, and things start to shift a little bit.

Only a little bit, and fairly subtle. Bail is, after all, used to playing a long game with limited resources and everything to lose.

He worries, sometimes, that he’s moving too slowly in the Senate, but it’s such a delicate balance, if he upsets it...

But he is making progress. ...glacial, minuscule progress, but the galaxy is on a somewhat better path this time around. Palpatine finds things just a little bit harder this time around. Maybe that’ll be enough, and all the little changes will add up. That’s what Bail’s hoping for.

Unfortunately, this is Palpatine, and he has backup plans for his backup plans, and is course-correcting rather nicely.

Fortunately, that means Bail isn’t quite annoying enough to get offed.

Bail is also gradually working people into his network. Mon and Bel Iblis, to start; a few others. He decides against telling anyone he’s from the future. Compartmentalizing is better. Safer.

He involves Padme, too, of course; while he’s still not quite ready/able to approach telling her the full truth (though he knows he can’t get away with half-measures like he can with the others), her support is invaluable. He’s keeping track of what she notices and when, with regard to Palpatine’s machinations. While she is starting to waver a little, she still mostly trusts her former adviser; and Bail knows that she’ll have to decide not to on her own. All he can do is nudge her in the right direction, when he has the opportunity to do so.

He’s also gathering evidence, so that when he finally makes a bold, public strike, he’ll be able to back it up and the Republic will survive the blow to morale and the power vacuum that will inevitably ensue.

Anakin, actually, becomes a bigger change. Because while Bail has become an expert in slow, subtle progress that you don’t notice until it punches you in the face five years later, Anakin is....not.

Also, this is, like, the best year of his life. Even in the original timeline. He has a job he’s good at, he has his wife, he has his brother, he has his sister, he (at least thinks) he has a father figure in Palpatine...

And this time, he also has Bail.

Which means a confidant outside the Order, who is Not Palptaine. Who is, in fact, a very good counterweight for Palpatine because they’re both playing on the same emotional needs.

But Bail, of course, actually genuinely has Anakin’s best interests at heart.

So, Palpatine is starting to notice that Anakin is...worryingly stable. That will never do.

So, he pushes a little bit harder than he did, this early on, in the other timeline.

Not enough to make Anakin notice, of course.

(Smart as he is, Anakin is also really really dumb about some things)

But enough that when someone finally points out that, hey, Palpatine is sort of sketchy, he won’t be quite as resistant to the notion.

Because he feels--unsettled, more often than not, after meeting with Palpatine. And he tells himself it’s just because of the problems the Chancellor is pointing out to him. He convinces himself that’s all, but each time--it’s maybe just a tiny bit harder to believe.

(Strangely enough, although sometimes he and Senator Organa talk about similar things--his issues with the Council, etc.--he never leaves those conversations feeling like this...)

All of this comes to a head--oh, we’ll say about a year later.

Not much has really changed (at least in the parts of the story we, the audience, see) other than Bail is a little more integrated/involved with Our Heroes than in canon. Basically, it’s not just Padme he follows down to the docks with a sidearm to keep her from getting herself killed.

(Side note: he also would very much like to take Ahsoka home and just keep her. BAIL ORGANA IS ADOPTING ALL OF THESE KIDS AND KEEPING THEM SAFE FROM PALPATINE AND HIS SCHEMES, OKAY.)

Anyway. Bail eventually comes forward and tells Anakin--pretty much everything.

This occurs under suitably melodramatic circumstances--i.e., Anakin was playing security/escort for something Bail was doing, and they crash and are stranded together for a few days, or something. Because while Bail is like the chillest dude ever, Anakin attracts more than enough Drama to make up for that.

He’s like a Melodrama Magnet.

Also, them being stranded means Anakin can’t ragequit the conversation, losing all the ground Bail has gained over the last year.

This covers a lot of ground--even though Bail tries to stick to just what he knows is true.

But this is damning enough.

But Anakin needs to know.

“I’m doing this,” he says, “for our daughter.”

“Our daughter,” Anakin repeats.

And then Bail tells him about her. All the things he’s wanted to say this whole year but couldn’t--because it would hurt Breha too much, and who else could he confide in about the daughter he lost?

BASICALLY ALL OF THE LEIA FEELS BECAUSE HER DADS. JUST. HER DADS.

It is a long, difficult conversation, but Anakin--Anakin is not yet so unstable that he won’t listen. And Bail is his friend, someone he trusts. And he--knows there is darkness in him, he remembers what he did in the wake of his mother’s death, and he knows the truth of what Bail is telling him.

“It’s not you,” Bail says. “Not yet. And it doesn’t have to be. We can fix this, before it goes too far. I can’t solve these problems for you, but I can help. I want to help.”

(And he finds a way to shut down that insecure voice in the back of Anakin’s head that doubts Bail’s friendship for a minute there, because he can see those wheels turning, and he knows Anakin well enough by now to guess at those particular cracks in his psyche.)

(Quick note: I did say that this Bail tells Anakin almost everything--but he does leave Luke out of the conversation. As I mentioned before, he’s too cautious not to hedge his bets.)

Another thing Bail does not do is he does not--specifically implicate Palpatine, because he doesn’t know how far Anakin has drifted away from the Chancellor’s influence and doesn’t want to risk a denial-induced overcompensation reaction, where he falls even deeper under the Sith Lord’s shadow.

(but Anakin, while being kind of dumb, is also a very smart man. And he knows that the list of people who have that level of influence on both him and galactic politics as a whole is a very short one.)

They come out of this with the whole--idea, that Bail genuinely trusts Anakin’s abilities, and trusts him to help and do the right thing, and Anakin can come to him for help/perspective when it all gets to be too much, emotionally speaking, without worrying about disappointing him to the point where Bail will abandon him/not want to be his friend anymore.

(Because Bail has seen the worst he could possibly be. As long as Anakin doesn’t go that far...)

After a day or so, they get picked up from wherever they were stranded. Probably by Obi-Wan, who can tell that Something Important happened. But Anakin is being quiet, and Bail deftly changes the subject.

And then they get back to Coruscant, and a different kind of hell breaks loose.

Because Bail made a very slight, but very important miscalculation--Anakin and Leia are a lot alike, in how they approach problems, in how they view the world, in that they both operate from a fairly black-and-white way of thinking--there’s another meta post I’ve read I’m going to reference, talking about how Anakin and Leia are Justice, while Luke and Padme are Mercy.

But Leia has the advantage of a stable childhood. And a certain amount of common sense. These temper those instincts, and help her rein herself in until the time is right. Anakin...not so much.

So, Anakin, once he’s through with his preliminary debrief at the Temple, goes to confront Palpatine, about everything Bail told him, and everything he figured out from there.

(He manages to protect Bail through this, and everything that will come after--he had a vision, he tells his false friend; so convincingly that even Darth Sidious believes.)

Some time later, Bail gets a call from Obi-Wan.

“Have you heard from Anakin? I can’t reach him. Neither can Ahsoka, and he usually doesn’t duck her calls. You’re his friend, I thought, perhaps...”

Bail has a Bad Feeling(tm) about this.

Because Padme hasn’t heard from him, either.

“He’s probably racing,” Obi-Wan says, but the doubt shines clear in his voice. “He’ll be back soon, I’m sure...”

Bail takes a deep breath, because here’s another incredibly difficult conversation he’s been putting off for a year.

It’s time to read Obi-Wan--and Padme--in. On everything, just like he did with Anakin.

...that’s about as far as I have planned out in detail. But there will be a Rescue Mission, and Palpatine will end up Very Very Dead, and life will be--good. The Republic will stabilize, and Bail and Padme and Mon and their allies will fix the problems that Palpatine found and exacerbated there. And the Order will survive and adapt, becoming a little more flexible as it moves forward into a new golden age.

And while a part of Bail still mourns the good parts of his other life, he and Breha will eventually adopt another little girl, as they discussed; and Anakin will practically be his son anyway; and he will watch Leia grow up again, in a peaceful galaxy, the one she has always deserved, and he will be very pleased with what he accomplished.

#shadowsong26fic #shadowsong writes star wars #things shadowsong will never actually write #au outlines for the win

20 notes · View notes

isaakfvkampfer · 7 years

Text

fic rec and fic-induced headcanon

Some SW fics I really love and would like to recommend. Some may be considered reaaaaaally weird and mind-blowing but all of them are brilliant! They inspired me and now my headcanon is reaaaaaaally fucked-up... You might want to read these fics first bc my half-borrowed headcanon is full of spoilers for them.

Out of the Dark Valley http://archiveofourown.org/works/6281581/chapters/14393407 Breaking the Future to His Hand http://archiveofourown.org/series/525610 Not In His Plans http://archiveofourown.org/works/5111396/chapters/11759570 Rococo http://archiveofourown.org/works/9101827 Sedition http://archiveofourown.org/works/8836729

Don’t read this half-borrowed headcanon if you are not prepared. It’s really fucked-up.

Plagueis is basically gay and he likes young boys. Palpatine is asexual and he only has an eye for power. The old perv uses Palps for several decades in every way, for he is the Master and Palpatine is only an apprentice at the time. Like in the Plagueis book, he dreams that they will rule the galaxy together, and Palpatine gets rid of him with Force-lightening. (This paragraph can be seen as a summary for Darth Videtur’s Breaking the Future to His Hand series. It’s her headcanon.)

Obi-Wan pines for Qui-Gon. Unfortunately, the latter is basically straight. He wasn’t that hard-core when he was younger, but his relationship with his Master which was full of unexplained sexual tension ruined it. He has been a lady’s man since then. He and Tahl had been dancing delicately around each other since they had known each other. Tahl died, of course. Qui-Gon treats Xanatos like a son he has never had but raising him in the Jedi way just makes it worse. Xanatos’ betrayal breaks him. He knows Obi-Wan has a thing for him but pretends he never sees it. Qui-Gon has a unique way of hurting those he cares most. He never realizes it. Not before he dies.

Pansexual Obi-Wan leaves a trail of ex-girlfriends/boyfriends/animal friends and unrequited love affairs. Some of his lovers are dead. And those relationships happen to be the ones he treats more seriously. He sees Anakin as a son and when his padawan grows older, a brother. He appreciates Anakin’s striking beauty, talent and vigor. If the young man courts him after he’s knighted, Obi-Wan won’t say no. He treats intimate relationships like a Jedi that even many of his fellow Jedi can’t understand. He finds that Anakin falls head of heels for the ex-Queen of Naboo and decides to respect Anakin’s choice so he never mentions it to others. He thought that Anakin was straight. Obi-Wan gets into a non-working relationship with Cody. 80% friend-with-benefits, 20% something else. Cody is gonna made a move for Obi-Wan when Order 66 happens.

No matter what Obi-Wan thinks, Anakin is not that straight, and he never thinks Obi-Wan as his brother, only a father figure, teacher and friend. He is attracted to Naboos. Like a duck reckons the first thing it sees as its mother, Anakin is greatly influenced by the Naboos he encounters. His crush for Padme should have stayed as it is, a crush, but it’s not. It’s been smothered for too long and becomes an obsession. Anakin also falls for Palpatine. His day-to-day life in the Temple and relationship with Obi-wan(the mixed working and family relationship), the entertaining and relaxing out-of-Temple time with Palpatine(friendship), and his imaginary romantic relationship with a girl he hasn’t seen in 10 years were the three fulcra for his life as a padawan. He opresses two of them – for the Jedi can never know about it – and the third one just grows and draws some elements from the other two. Thus his secret pining for Palpatine. Besides, he thinks Palpation is as Force-sensitive as a brick so his mind can run freely when they are together...(Thanks to Not in His Plan I got on this ship...)

When Anakin meets Tarkin in TCW, they become good friends. He starts to doubt many things. And Palpatine and Tarkin being old friends doesn’t help in quietening those doubts.

Ahsoka and Barris come together and end up in a relationship after Order 66. Barris was bitter about Ahsoka before the Temple bombing incident. (This headcanon is taken straight out of the prequel story of Out of the Dark Valley.)

The Empire replaces the Republic. Tarkin and Vader are the infamous Imperial terror duo. Their friendship remains. Vader soon discovers that Anakin Skywalker’s estimation of Tarkin’s private life is totally wrong. Tarkin is no celibate middle-aged work-driven gentleman. He’s been popular since his school days. He conquers women, men – all humans of course – but stays single. The relationship is never long. Years passes, and Vader discovers that he is the only one aware of this.

Palpatine’s propaganda advocates that working hard day and night is the only way to gain power, money and respect. Vader, Tarkin and he himself are the poster boys – look at us, single, rich and powerful and you all should WORK HARD AND PRAISE OUR NEW ORDER~~ Sate Pestage has been pining for him for decades. He has known him since the Emperor was an ambitious and handsome red-head Naboo noble. His devotion to Palps never wavered even if the other man has changed greatly. Palpatine knows that, of course. He keeps manipulating him without guilt.

Rumor mills run high that Grand Admiral Thrawn has a thing for the ysalamiris he keeps around. The ysalamiris are on his command chair, in his bedroom, under his sheets, anywhere he goes. It started in the joke mills. Some lowly officers’ drunk words. It evolves quickly and the originators quit the job and run to hide under some stones in the Wild Space or the Unknown Region after they discovered what they had done.

(This one starts basically as an AU of Rococo and takes many critical events off Out of the Dark Valley in later plots) Leia offers to marry Tarkin in exchange for the survival of Alderaan. Tarkin agrees, but he also states that the Death Star will stay in orbit around the planet before the wedding is complete. The wedding is held three days later. Bail has informed the Alliance to move the base off Yavin IV and in no condition should they contact Alderaan again. The day after the wedding, Tarkin takes Leia back to the Death Star and asks her to contact his father to disarm any form of planetary defense and give up the location of the Alliance’s base. Leia wants to negotiate. She tells Tarkin that the Alliance has changed its base and they don’t know where. Tarkin smirks and tells the operator to fire when ready. Leia nearly gets onto her knees. She asks if there’s any way that he will leave Alderaan alone. Tarkin says there’s none. Seconds later, Alderaan is gone.

Things of the fic Sedition happens. Tarkin and Vader’s relationship is getting even weirder.

Leia tries to assassinate Tarkin countless times but to no avail. Rumours spread around the Alliance that Leia is now an Imperial. Tarkin told Leia about the history of the Republic from another angle. Leia’s worldview has changed but she doesn’t want to believe it. In her heart she knows she is more an Imperial than she would like to be. Anyway, this won’t affect her plans for revenging Alderaan. Once an Alliance assassin comes to kill her, for Alliance comes across serious setbacks which is actually the spies in their own base’s doing but blames it on Leia. Leia is in another attempt of assassining Tarkin and she nearly succeeds before the Alliance assassin ruins it. The poor man is Force-choked by Leia in her rage and Tarkin finishes the job with a shot. Tarkin is intrigued that Leia is Force-sensitive. He tells Vader about it. Vader is in need of an apprentice. Leia has other plans and she does need training.

Vader has been searching for his son Luke Skywalker at the time. He doesn’t get Luke. He does get Obi-Wan. He uses some Force-illusions to convince the stormtroopers that in his fight with his old Jedi Master, the old man vanishes into thin air and becomes a Force ghost. That’s not the truth. The truth is that he betters Obi-Wan in combat and secretly imprisons him. He actually has no plan to kill his old teacher even if he’s been fantasizing it since Mustafar. And Obi-Wan tells Vader that there’s one secret that no one knows now except him. Vader knows it’s true and he also knows torturing is no use and he can’t get into the other man’s head without killing him. Obi-Wan stays on the Executor as Vader’s secret prisoner.

Luke and Han Solo are Alliance’s last hope. They make trouble all around the Empire. Palpatine knows that Vader is looking for Luke. He just sits comfortably in his throne far away in Coruscant and watches with popcorns in one hand and a goblet of Naboo blossom wine in another.

Han and Luke gets in one Imperial gala in disguise as some alien species. They find Leia. Luke says that he and Han don’t believe the girl he saw in R2-D2’s holo projection will take the Empire’s side, and they are smuggling her out. Leia refuses to go with them. Against her better judgement, she admits that she is learning from Darth Vader so she could kill Tarkin one day and even the Emperor himself. She doesn’t say she wants to kill Vader because she learns that for all the closeness between Vader and Tarkin, the Dark Lord actually hates the Death Star. Besides, she knows that without Vader’s help, she can’t take out Palpatine.

Luke is pissed. He tells Leia that Vader kills his father. They don’t notice in their heated discussion the said Dark Lord silently comes.

“I am your father!”

“NOOOOOOOOO!”

Han is made into a wall decorator, because he sees something in Solo’s eyes when he looks at his son, and he DOESN’T LIKE IT. Vader then gifts him to Thrawn as a return of favor – he has promised the Chiss one day he would get him some unique art that he has never seen. He doesn’t care if the Grand Admiral appreciates his dark humor.

At some point Vader has moved Obi-Wan to Tarkin’s flagship, Executress. He can’t risk Palpatine’s inspection. Tarkin seldom stays on his flagship any more. He spends most of his time on the Death Star. Luke is put into the cell next to Obi-Wan. Vader wants to know if these two old acquaitances get together, Obi-Wan might loose his tongue.

Luke expresses his frustration at Han being taken and his anger for Leia refusing to come with them which led to their capture. He also confesses Princess Leia looks fantastic in person and is the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen blahblahblha. Obi-Wan doesn’t expect that, and in a hurry he tells Luke that Leia’s his twin sister. Both Tarkin and Vader got the video feeds. Vader is too stunned to think of anything else, while Tarkin comes to the most bizzare realization of his life that he just sleeps with both father and daughter.

--The End—

Well, Tarkin might be considering eliminating Palpatine along with Coruscant by using the Death Star. I think Leia and Vader have to convince him otherwise. They might need to kill him idk. Thrawn hasn’t decided what he is gonna do about the Death Star. It’s both a threat and a unique weapon. He might decide to use it just once against the lurking unknown threat. With his passive-aggressive way against the Alliance, the latter survives longer.

#star wars #sw fic rec #anakin skywalker #luke skywalker #leia organa #palpatine #thrawn #tarkin #han solo #skysolo #vaderkin #Obi-Wan Kenobi #darth vader #sw fic

5 notes · View notes

missizzy · 5 years

Text

Fic: All Five, Part 15: Work Back Home(Star Wars)

(Read entire work on AO3)

Roughly half an hour later, Mace walked into the plant store where Xador and Edny hadn’t found much interesting, and he sure didn’t see any shatterpoints anywhere around either. When he told them that Big Hargo had taken some business by someone he was pretty sure was the Sith, and that he was now accepting a banishment from Colorpa, Edny’s face was filled with cautious hope, but Xador asked, “Is he going right now? Not even stopping to grab some bags first? Did you hypnotize him into literally turned and leaving by the nearest way out?”

Mace reached through the Force. He’d actually headed in the direction of his headquarters. He figured he probably would pack some things first, maybe even claim he was going away temporarily to whoever he’d leave to run things. Especially if he was hoping to eventually come back, although he might have realized what Mace had, that any deputy he chose would claim everything for himself first, and not welcome him home.

Sure enough, he was there, he mind very occupied, his fear still driving him. “I think he’ll be out by morning,” he said, after another moment or so. “As will I, but I will stay here until he’s beyond the walls, if that makes you feel better.” He could spare that much time. He wanted to at least visit the two signal towers before he left anyway.

That was enough for Edny. The fear she’d been carrying around every second she’d been in his presence decreased substantially. He allowed her to hug him, hard, and the enthusiasm of her thanks honestly stunned him.

But Xador, meanwhile, was looking very cross, even before he demanded, “So am I getting anything out of this? If you tell me my reward will be your not handing me over to the authorities, I swear I’m gonna take your own laser sword and ignite it right in the middle of…”

“I would expect you to be able to provide for yourself amid all the chaos that will soon ensue with this city’s biggest crime boss gone. I don’t suppose it would help that much if you accompanied me to the signal towers, but I could be wrong there.”

Xador seemed to consider it for a moment or so, but said, “There are other places I should be tonight for that. Hey, Edny, do you know…”

“No.” Edny had pulled away from Mace, and now she was drawing herself up and turning away. “I don’t know you, sir.”

“Hey, I just helped save your life!” he protested, moving to grab her.

“There’s no need for this.” Mace placed himself between them. “You won’t get anything out of her if you get violent. Edny, do you actually have any useful information for him?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment or so, and Xador looked a little calmer when she shook her head. “I’ve known nothing he hasn’t surely changed by now.”

“Makes sense,” said Xador, and Mace didn’t sense any deception from her either. “So, fine then. None of the three of us know each other. I’m sure you’ll be happy not to know either of us, Master Jedi.”

“I would be happy not to know you,” sighed Mace. “But don’t think either of you are going to get that lucky if you ever cause trouble anywhere I am.”

“Did we really get so up in your cloak you’ll take the time out?” laughed Xador, but he was already on his way out. Edny watched him leave, then continued to stare at the door for a minute or so, obviously wanting to put some space between herself and him immediately.

Just before she left, she turned to take one last look at Mace, and she said, “May the Force be with you, Master Windu.”

“Thank you, m’am,” he said, and bowed slightly.

He himself stayed behind just long enough look into the Force again, this time concentrating upon the fate of his two companions. For Xador he couldn’t see much, which was to be expected; one could rarely see the fate of a man who lived like he did. For Edny, however, he could see a little. There would be more grief for her, he could tell, and fear, and also a child she would have to raise on her own. But there was also persistence, and love, and not a little amount of joy. Things wouldn’t be easy for her, but she’d be all right.

Both of the signal towers were far away enough Mace took a bus to the first one, which was empty enough he used the chance to contact first Padmé, sending her a quick message telling her he would be setting off to join her. Then he contacted the Temple. By a stroke of luck, he found himself talking to Yoda and Qui-Gon together. When he told them about Big Hargo diverting the ship, Yoda said, “Look into that, we should. Talk with Knight Kenobi, we will?”

He sensed the Dark Side strong around the first of the towers even before he got off the bus. It was the one by the Red Gate, as it was called; Mace had heard three different stories about why. That he’d sensed nothing like it the entire time he and Padmé had been in the spaceport made him suspect that Darth Maul had used that signal tower a lot less. Perhaps he’d thought he would use it, but had found that impractical.

The security on it was better than it had been on Edny’s tower, and breaking in would take more time than he had. So instead Mace spent a little while walking around the perimeter, standing over some of the blocks on the bottom which contained the majority of the tower’s wiring; that was a common feature of Colorpa’s older buildings. He’d gone nearly around when he reached the ones with notches on the end near the wall, which was definitely a sign of being tampered with, especially when, on closer examination, he also discovered it opened on that end.

There was a seal-lock built into the wall, and it was impossible to break it without triggering an alarm. But using just a sliver of his blade, Mace was able to cut a hole just big enough to look through.

He wasn’t quite sure what it was he saw in the box. It looked kind of like a holocron, but while it was not without the Dark Side, it was so weak he hadn’t sensed it until he’d gotten within a hand’s length of it, if only because of the mysterious broken piece of it he was currently carrying around blocking it out.

Because that was the main thing he could determine about it: it was made of the exact same substance as the object in his pouch, and it was the right size that the broken piece could have easily come from it.

Pulling back, Mace gingering slip a pinky finger into the hole. He didn’t even actually have to touch the thing; same feeling of wrong. This time, he was also hit by a strange feeling of distance, as if he would, if he reached out, be able to touch and feel things half a galaxy away, maybe more.

Were the Sith trying to do something like that, to spy on the Jedi, or even cross vast amounts of space within a moment? Had they possibly even succeeded at the former? At least if they managed the latter, the Jedi would know.

He didn’t linger much longer, either by the block, or around the tower. He sensed nothing else out of the ordinary, and he didn’t have time for any more in-depth looking. As dawn rose over Colorpa two and a half hours later, Mace Windu had already left the city, settled in the corner of a long bus where he hoped he wouldn’t even have to sit too close to anyone during the three days it would take to get to Tanzer. He had given Padmé a full update, and learned she and her two companions had reached the city and gone to ground in a motel on its outskirts.

They probably wouldn’t be able to get rid of those two as easily has Mace had his own two; they neither of them had anything to go back to. He found themselves dwelling just a little on whether they could settle them somewhere on this planet, or whether they’d have to take them off it with them. It probably wouldn’t be that much of a bother to get them into a refugee resettlement center, one far enough away from Avvarbor Prime that they could be convinced that nobody there would be interested in hurting or killing them. It was getting them through Colorpa first that might be more of a pain.

Except that Mace also had an uneasy feeling that he himself was never going to set foot in Colorpa again.

The Jedi Temple, Coruscant

On Master Jinn’s instructions, Anakin had spent the last hour looking up weird gadgets that were very tangentially related to Sith Holocrons. Like where it was believed some inventor who never would’ve been able to open it had found one, and there were signs of it influencing his work, situations like that. His Master and Obi-Wan had gone to the Archives to research other objects that might be related or even be what Master Windu had found before leaving Colorpa, the ones that were darker.

He found himself flipping through the creations of Syne Orbs, an inventor from Avvarbor Five who’d died only the previous year. He’d made his living by selling traveling lights and similar, but he also filed paperwork for a device he claimed could be used to listen in on encrypted messages, even ones both sent and received all the way on the other side of the galaxy. When Anakin looked at some of his wares, he was reminded of the lantern Master Jinn had given him back on Sopertlia, on a day that felt so long ago now.

His hadn’t been the only invention to remind Anakin of that lantern. It probably helped that he’d been working with it lately. As his Master had suggested, he now had a way to take the lights on and off of the chain and put them back. Detached, and occasionally floated around, they definitely looked a little like some of the levitatable lights developed on more than one planet.

He was looking further into the various records related to Orbs, noting he’d died of a disease it was very unusual for humans to get, when Obi-Wan came in, and Anakin could sense Master Jinn was close behind him. “Well, Anakin,” he said, “you’ll be happy to hear this: the two of us are to go outside the Temple.”

“Really?” Anakin couldn’t help how his face lit up.

“Yes, really,” said Obi-Wan. “You remember the transport that left Avvarbor Prime and was diverted here, apparently on the orders of the Sith? We’ve been looking into where its various passengers went, especially the Epostulate ones. It looks like most of them have rented out an apartment clump on Level 3011. The Council has decided the two of us are to go down there, see if we can get any information out of the locals, if any of them are Force sensitive.”

“Why us, though?” Anakin was now mature and responsible enough to ask that question. “I mean, any pair of Jedi could do that, and they might even be in less danger than us.”

Obi-Wan let his obvious discomfort show then, as he said, “Qui-Gon brought up the same point. He got the Council to admit that they’re hoping the two of us will attract the Sith’s attention. We’re pretty sure Darth Maul isn’t on Coruscant right now, so he wouldn’t be able to come attack us tonight, but hearing we’ve been there, if the inhabitants have been told to keep an eye out for us, maybe then sending Qui-Gon down there too a few days from now, might draw him back here.”

“You think he’d really do that? Come here, to Coruscant, alone, with all the Jedi right here?” Although he wouldn’t be completely alone, Anakin then thought, since the Sith almost certainly had operatives here, and probably the second one was on the planet somewhere. Or, of course, he might bring fighters with him, like the Sith had twice in the last decade and a half.

“I don’t know, honestly,” said Obi-Wan. “All I know is the Council seems to believe it’s possible.”

Sometimes, when the Jedi went down into Coruscant’s lower levels, they would leave the Temple by an exit on one of the lowest levels still in use. Master Jinn accompanied his former and current Padawan down to it an hour or so later, Anakin trying to remember as they walked where they were in relation to the abandoned areas he’d crept through on that day he’d run into Master Dooku.

The memory of Dooku brought up another worrying thought. Very quietly, he asked, “Does anyone else in the Temple know where we’re going?”

“Of course not,” said Master Jinn. “This is the sort of task that must be done quickly and quietly. You yourself should not talk about it with anyone outside the five of us, and maybe not that much even then.”

Anakin wasn’t sure he liked that, being asked to limit how much he talked about it with Padmé. But maybe things would be different by the time she got back to Coruscant anyway.

For now, he just reminded himself that this meant they shouldn’t have to worry about any spies at all, and he was even cheered when Master Jinn pulled each of them in turn into the kind of fierce hug Anakin didn't always even want anymore. “Come back safe,” he said, and then watched, his care warming them both through the Force, until the door had shut behind them.

Since that first time, when he and Padmé had both still been Initiates and she’d nearly died saving someone, Anakin had traveled down to the deep levels of Coruscant three times, all of them with Master Jinn. It definitely felt less safe than it had ever been, even with Obi-Wan with him, but that was simply because he knew more now. Even during his last visit, a little after he’d turned twelve, he hadn’t quite grasped the full extent of the crime that went on, or how desperate life could be for so many who lived down here, and what could happen as a result.

“Stay close to me, Anakin,” said Obi-Wan. “I know at your age I would feel like I should be more daring, and I know you’ve done things probably more dangerous than this, but all the same, it would be silly of you to get yourself hurt right now.”

Surely Obi-Wan realized how restless that was going to make Anakin. But he did understand the logic of the knight’s words. So he tried to remember all the mantras he knew for keeping himself at peace and patient. Master Jinn had taught him a lot of those over the years. It helped that they spent a significant amount of time walking downward, steady rhythmic steps that gave them both something to concentrate on, combined with their surroundings, though through much of it there weren’t very many lifeforms near them.

He even managed to keep doing them during the brief elevator ride, listening to the hum it made-a little whirry; it could do with a tune-up. When the door opened up, they were blasted by cold air, although Anakin felt more the warmth of all the people crowded together in the space ahead of them, so different from the levels they’d just traveled through or even the places immediately around them.

He noted that last bit to Obi-Wan, saying, “I think they chose a place deliberately away from everybody else. Surely that means they’re up to something.”

“Not necessarily. If they’re refounding their community here, they probably don’t want its members, especially not the younger ones, mixing too much with other people, especially on a planet like Coruscant, where there are so many different kinds of people, and they know so little about any of them. Cult groups are often like that, always afraid of their ways being changed or people abandoning them.”

Anakin couldn’t help then but think of certain things he’d heard said about the Jedi, especially here on Coruscant. Maybe Obi-Wan could tell, because he said, “It has often been the task of the Jedi to avoid that kind of thinking. Our ways are our ways, and while change should not be unheard of, nor should it be undertaken without great care, prudence, and knowledge. But we do not put ourselves above those who aren’t us. On the contrary, we spend our days doing good for them, walking among them, even if we live apart from them. Young Jedi see plenty of the galaxy by the time they are knighted; they do not make that commitment blindly.”

He probably would’ve talked more, too, if they hadn’t now just about reached their destination, a large cluster of buildings, two or three floors, it looked like, clumped against and around each other like pieces of mud. There was absolutely no one outside, and this was big enough a residential cluster that there should have been at least a few people going from one place to another.

They walked to what was roughly the middle of it, hoping the Force would nudge one or the other of them towards one of the buildings, or someone would decide to come out when they saw them. When neither happened, Obi-Wan called out, “I know there are people here, people who are obviously hiding from us. We won’t be much of a bother to you. In fact, we’re trying to protect you. We know who you are, and where you came from, and you did not intend to come here to Coruscant. We also know that your ship was diverted by the mysterious man who came to your city and said he would teach you. I imagine you were fleeing from him, and now he chose your destination, and there’s a good chance he has some further plans for you.

So if you want us to stop him, then any information you have about him could be what allows us to do that. If you don’t want to come out now, you know where to find us.”

This was probably the right course to take, but Anakin couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that it looked like they weren’t going to get much done themselves that day. Even more so when they’d started walking, and were nearly out of the complex.

Until a young woman burst from the entrance from the building at the edge of it, her hood half-falling down as she stumbled in her heavy dress, nearly colliding with them before she skidded to a halt with a, “I believe you. The rest of them don’t, or say they don’t, but I do. And the two people who are in charge of us right now, one of them’s behaving really weird. Master Tenni, he’s mostly all right, focused on getting us the virtual employments and food and stuff, but Master Kolut, he’s not helping with any of that. Instead he says he’s always off trying to find out why we ended up on Coruscant, almost all the day, every day. I think he’s doing something else.”

That definitely sounded suspicious, but Anakin could think of a lot of things Master Kolut might be doing that he had nothing to do with the Sith which he still wouldn’t want his followers knowing about. Obi-Wan was probably thinking the same thing, as he asked her, “Do you know if he has any powers? Or if he was a student of the one you fled from?”

She shook her head. “I never knew those sorts of things. Though I think most of us here don’t have any powers. I know I don’t, and nor does anyone in my family.” As she spoke this she glanced around, as if she’d just heard something.

Obi-Wan of course promptly asked, “Is it safe for you to remain here now?”

“No, I’m not leaving,” she said, and shrank away, and both Jedi knew instantly that it wasn’t.

“You need to come away with us,” Anakin said, before Obi-Wan could stop him. “I know that must seem really scary, but aren’t you scared to go back in there?” She was; they wouldn’t have even needed the Force to sense that.

But she must have been even more scared to go with them, because she just shook her head and started to retreat.

“The choice doesn’t have to be between them or us,” Obi-Wan offered. “There’s a refuge not far from here, level 3038, in the Mustrose Complex, go up the lift just west of here and it’ll be easy to find.” But his words somehow seemed to frighten her even more, and she outright turned and ran back the way she had come.

Obi-Wan shook his head. “You should’ve left it to me, Anakin. I could’ve almost certainly gotten more information out of her.”

“And would you have gotten her out of here?” Anakin asked, as they resumed their walk back to the lift. “Could we have said anything to make her go?” He would feel terrible if they could have.

But instead he felt even worse when Obi-Wan just said, “I don’t know. Someone in her position-it’s hard enough to get them to save themselves even in the best of circumstances, and when she’s newly on a planet like Coruscant, bigger and scarier to her than even the entire galaxy ever was to us, and has reason to believe a great and powerful being is after her…”

“And we have to just walk away from her now, don’t we?” Anakin wasn’t even disputing that; he knew he couldn’t. But he wasn’t going to pretend to like it.

“We can’t force her to leave,” said Obi-Wan. “Jedi can only do that sort of thing when enough is at stake that they can justify it to the Senate. And in this case, even talking to her about it for too long could cause the leaders of this community to file a complaint about us, which we really do not want right now. And yes, I know it’s painful…”

“Painful?” Anakin did his best not to yell it. “It’s way worse than that! What if they kill that poor girl?!”

“I know, I know,” said Obi-Wan, and Anakin knew he did, if only because he knew the knight’s mind. “But the fact remains that if we did other than what we are doing right now, it would likely result in far worse happening.”

Anakin didn’t say anything then. What could he have said? But he was going to be mad for the rest of the day, he decided, and he didn’t care if he wasn’t supposed to be mad just because he was a Jedi.

Back in the elevator, Obi-Wan said, “At least we got the information about their leaders, and she was telling the truth that there wasn’t much Force sensitivity, from what I could sense. Did you get the same impression?” When Anakin said that he had, he said, “We’ll pass that name on. I think Qui-Gon could trace at least some of his activities with neither he nor his followers any the wiser.”

The Next Morning

It was one of those mornings where Master Rancisis decided he wanted to lecture the next generation on a subject he believed they all needed to know about. So Anakin was out of their quarters right after breakfast, and Qui-Gon had told him he could go to lunch from there, and there was no hurry for him to return after it, so long as he didn’t take half the afternoon. Normally he wished Master Rancisis wouldn’t forcibly drag all the Padawans in the Temple at the moment to one of his speeches, but there was no denying it was convenient on that occasion.

First he was able to talk with Obi-Wan about what had happened with Anakin specifically the previous day, and even a little about how to help him cope with it. “I certainly would’ve felt the same way he did when I was that age,” he commented. “To some extent, I still do.”

“More than just to some extent,” said Obi-Wan, smiling. “Anyone who’s been your Padawan would know that. But that might at least make it easier to get Anakin to listen to whatever you say to him about it.”

He couldn’t stay the entire morning either, though, and Qui-Gon was alone when he sat down to deal with the matter of Ugs Kolut. He’d gotten his full name off the ship’s paperwork the previous night, and from there messaged all of the various friends he’d made around Coruscant over the years with all the details they had on him. A message had arrived in response from one of them, a tech who had been working in the Senate building for over two decades, who had looked in the Visitor’s Log and seen Kolut’s name six times. He’d also asked Qui-Gon to call at home at a certain time when he’d be on break. He was probably using this as excuse to talk to him about some other matter, but Qui-Gon commed him anyway.

Sure enough, when Rozitti answered, there were about ten minutes where he complained about new taxes applied to everyone who lived in the Senate District that didn’t hurt the Senators any, but did very badly hurt those that worked for them. He had to know Qui-Gon and the Jedi couldn’t interfere any with that, but he didn’t try to remind him of that, just heard him out.

Finally, Rozitti said, “And to make it even worse, I’m not sure my boss isn’t secretly looking through our messages. That’s why I didn’t want to go into any more details about your guy Kolut when I wrote you last night. I’ve set this to not archive on my side. But I’m pretty sure your guy’s been to some pretty high places as a visitor, and in the Supreme Chancellor’s office at least one, somewhere between 4:24 and 4:28 of this year.”

“Your private messages?” Qui-Gon demanded, his mission momentarily forgotten in his dismay. “Are they truly allowing that now?”

“According to law, no,” Rozitti answered with a rueful smile. “But even if we could be sure he’s doing it, how would we stop him? Law enforcement on Coruscant doesn’t serve people like us, my friend. You know, if you could ever make yourself of aid to us, you’d have a lot more friends here than just me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, my friend.” He would, too, but now, unfortunately, might not be quite the time. “Meanwhile, are you still willing to give me any more information about who exactly Kolut might have talked to? Even speculation might be useful.”

Rozitti shrugged. “His aides, or some of them, I’d assume. Maybe some other officials? Or other political figures, not even senators, necessarily. I haven’t heard of him coming in or being in with any other visitors in particular, but if there was any serious under-the-console stuff going on, those involved might try to avoid being connected to each other. Be interesting to know if he met with the Chancellor himself; not everyone who goes to his office does, of course.”

Qui-Gon, too, would be very interested in knowing that; he suspected that if the man was meeting with the Sith, he probably didn’t see very many people besides whoever their operative was. “And the other dates he might have come in? Any other details you happen to know?”

He rattled off the dates, but no obvious pattern appeared, and after that he had pretty much told Qui-Gon all he knew. Qui-Gon thanked him then, and added, “Remember, if you ever have serious financial difficulties…”

“I know,” said Rozetti. “Nice doing business with you, Master Jinn.” He was smirking as he disconnected. It made Qui-Gon’s lips curl up a little.

#star wars #Anakin Skywalker #obi-wan kenobi #qui-gon jinn #mace windu

0 notes