Oh I am slain!
Wynaut?
- Location
- Tatooine
Grrrr. I don't care if it was coincidental.
I have a very strange Master (Star Wars/SI) EPI-EPII
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
Grrrr. I don't care if it was coincidental.
No, you definitely are not the only one.
esran
head-cannon
I run a script to auto reveal invisitext.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
I'm in the same boat. It's oh so handy, especially when reading anything by Shade
Chapter Twenty-Three
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ahsoka started to regret the lack of anesthetic in her bloodstream within the next few hours, but as she regained control of her hand, with the pain attached to it, she hissed less in frustration and more in effort. Her index finger twitched, and soon her middle one did the same motion. It took her four hours, but she could finally close her hand into a fist.
"A prosthetic limb would have been better," Knight Skywalker said dryly, watching her like a hawk. He had probably been 'kicked out' of whatever meeting that was only for the Masters -or maybe he actually cared about a fellow Jedi enough to come visit- or maybe he was bored, and yeah, it was probably the third option. "So," he continued, "You killed Ventress."
"Yeah," Ahsoka said. "I did."
"You know Master Shade hacked her into pieces and then burned her corpse while we were waiting to be rescued, right?" Anakin said, and Ahsoka stopped her motion to turn sharply towards the Jedi Knight, eyes wide.
"He did what?!"
Knight Skywalker crossed his arms together. "He's always had that mania. Makes other Jedi sick, but I can understand it. He uses to say that 'unless they're dead and burned, they're not really dead, just waiting to come back to life later on'."
Ahsoka winced at the thought. "He didn't have to hack her to pieces."
"Well, he simply beheaded her," Anakin pointed out. "Made Master Plo Koon queasy all right -even with the mask, I was sure he'd barf."
Ahsoka nervously chuckled. Her Master hadn't spoken a single word to her about that. She wondered why. Well, maybe it hadn't simply popped up in the conversation. How could it even pop up in a conversation anyway? 'Hey, padawan, you remember the woman you just killed? To make sure she stayed dead for good I beheaded her and burned her corpse' 'Oh geez, Master! Thanks for the thought!'
"You still there, Snips?" Anakin asked, snapping his left hand in front of her face.
"Yes, yes," Ahsoka replied, shaking her head. "Just thinking."
"It must be hard to do that with an empty head," Anakin replied offhandedly. Ahsoka shot him a glare, but Anakin simply smiled back with the smug smirk of victory. "You challenged Dooku, and that's truly the work of an empty-head."
"You wouldn't have done the same?" Ahsoka shot right back at the Knight, who shrugged.
"Course I would have, but I would have won," he said with a hint of pride -no, scratch that, only smugness and a bucketful of pride were heard by Ahsoka's ears with that sentence.
"What's going to happen now?" Ahsoka asked. "We failed-"
"That's...up for debate," Anakin replied. "Yes, Aurra Sing and her crew escaped, but we did solve a pirate problem, and you did remove a thorn on the side of the Republic by killing Ventress. We survived Grievous and Dooku's ambush, and we managed to recover Night before he was shipped off-world. All things considered, this is pretty much a victory."
"But the important ones are still free," Ahsoka whispered.
"That still wouldn't be our fault," Anakin said. "If anything, it would be Night's fault for getting captured." However, he thoughtfully added a moment later, "We'll still have our chance. They can't run forever."
Ahsoka didn't nod at that notion. She just noncommittally shrugged. Few words later, and she was alone in the infirmary once more. She was starting to get bored, and even exercising her right hand was starting to annoy her. Maybe she really should have put a prosthetic in place of her real one. She half-expected her Master to pop his head in before the end of the day, but he didn't. She frowned at that, but then again, maybe he was writing a report about the events that had transpired during his captivity? Although if he had been captured quickly, he'd have nothing more to write than a 'I was knocked out, woke up pissed'.
Again, she wondered how he had woken up pissed. It had happened shortly after Dooku had cut her hand off, which meant it was probably related to that. Could high amounts of pain be transferred from one side to the other? It did make sense for her Master to wake up pissed after that, but did it also mean that he was hurting with his right hand, because hers hurt too?
The door slid open, and as Ahsoka's eyes looked up from her hand to the visitor, the last person she would have expected to come in did so at that precise moment.
"Master Plo," Ahsoka said. "It's a pleasure to see you."
"Likewise, Ahsoka," Master Plo replied. "I assume you are on the way of recovery?"
Ahsoka grinned, and lifted her right hand for Master Plo to see. She closed it into a fist, and kept the smile up even as a small burst of pain rushed through her arm. "Y-Yes," she ground out. "Hurts a bit, but not that much anymore."
Master Plo nodded. "Your Master was thoughtful to recover your hand as well as your lightsabers while escaping the droid carrier, young one," Plo said. "Had he not, you would have required a prosthetic."
"Yeah," Ahsoka smiled. "He's great."
"Which is why I must also warn you, Ahsoka," Master Plo Koon said crisply, "Not to get too attached to him."
Ahsoka frowned. "Master Plo?"
"The concept of Force Bonds is something stigmatized by the Jedi Council, because it is the very definition of attachment. It was once thought that should one who had bonded with another die, then the other would soon follow." Master Plo looked at her with his Kel Doran's imperturbable gaze. "Many in the council feared it to the point where we were inclined to strip him of his connection to the Force after the battle of Geonosis," he added.
Ahsoka's eyes widened. To strip someone of their connection to the Force, it was something only the Jedi High Council could do -and even then, only on the rarest of occasions. It was terrifying. Her blood ran cold at the simple thought.
"B-But nothing happened, did it?" Ahsoka hazarded.
"The war began," Master Plo said. "And the High Council postponed the choice," he continued. "However, your Master already made his decision back then," he acquiesced.
"He...He did?"
"Indeed," Master Plo nodded. "Sometimes, I ponder if he saw all of this and let it play for his purposes, but then I am reminded that he would never willingly subject the galaxy to such horrors, if he could have stopped them from ever beginning."
Master Plo stood up from the chair and crossed his arms within his sleeves. "Rest and recover well, young one. May the Force be with you."
"And with you as well, Master Plo."
As Master Plo turned to leave, Ahsoka frowned. She might have not heard correctly, or let it fly over her head, but- "Master? What did my master choose in the end?"
"When this war shall end," Master Plo said, "So too will Master Shade's connection to the Force be severed."
The door slid to a close behind Master Plo Koon, and Ahsoka was once more left alone with her thoughts, and the medical droid. Her head dropped like a dead weight on the pillow of her bed, and as she stared wide eyed at the ceiling, a thousand different thoughts rushed through her head. Her Master would willfully subject himself to the loss of the Force to atone for his crimes, and someone within the Jedi Temple had deliberately set him up to fall prey to the Separatists' ambush?
There was someone in the Jedi Temple who knew her Master was willing to pay with the connection to the Force, and yet they had all the same decided it wasn't enough? They had decided capture, torture and execution were better?
That made her angry.
Both of her hands clenched hard, and this time, pain did nothing to dissuade Ahsoka from holding her right hand clenched tight. "Let it go~ Let it go~ Can't hold me back anymore~" the sudden singing voice made her freeze. She turned her head sharply to look straight into her Master's amused eyes, arms crossed in front of his chest as he looked at her from the doorway. "Anger leads to the Dark Side, padawan. Acknowledge it and let it go. It can't hurt you anymore~"
Ahsoka shuddered. Her master was utterly tone deaf. He was so tone deaf that it hurt to even hear him sing.
"Master," Ahsoka groaned. "Please stop singing."
"Only if you stop hating," her Master replied with a quip and a chuckle, taking the seat right next to her. "Hate's wrong, padawan. It leads to the Dark Side. I always thought of how I'd go about keeping my own padawans away from the Hate road, and I decided singing to them was the best way."
"You decided audio torture was the best way to keep your students away from the Dark Side?" Ahsoka retorted in surprise. He shrugged.
"If it works it works. So, still hating?"
"How can you just not be angry?" Ahsoka asked, "There's no reason for someone to come after you! You're willing to subject yourself to the harshest of punishments for a Jedi, and yet-"
"Yet if it's not enough, then it's not enough. One can hardly expect an 'I am sorry' to be enough, depending on the severity of the crime. People are not all as forgiving as saints," her Master said. "They'll be satisfied when they will be satisfied, and if it involves death, then it is their choice to rally for it."
"But it's wrong," Ahsoka stressed out.
"I was responsible for many deaths, Ahsoka," her Master acquiesced. "And I did break many a Jedi Code. I am responsible, and my responsibility isn't in question. What is in question is the price I must pay to atone, and I agree -mostly out of selfish interest," here he chuckled. Her Master chuckled at a joke made concerning a threat on his own life, "But in the end, 'whatever will be, will be'. I have to understand as one of the few Jedi unlucky enough to be born with the capacity for visions in the Force that sometimes, you just need to let go and trust yourself to do the right thing."
Ahsoka shook her head slowly. "The right thing does not involve your death, master."
"That's because you know very little of me, Ahsoka. You'd need years of knowledge in who I am to make an appropriate decision on the matter, but unfortunately that will not be the case. I've been discussing with Senator Amidala a chance for a peace treaty, and she does have connections to senators on the Separatists side who are willing to sue for peace. Things are still up in the air," her Master acquiesced, "but hopefully, the war will be over within the end of the year. When that times come, I'll quietly take my leave from the Jedi order, just another footnote in the history of it, and all will be well for the galaxy."
Her Master nodded, and smiled kindly. "I've already made peace with my decision. You thus have no reason to be angry for my sake." He flicked her forehead, "Leave the anger out of this."
Ahsoka mumbled as she used her left hand to massage her forehead. "Fine," she said in the end. "But only if you promise never to sing in my presence again."
"Deal," her master said with a chuckle.
All in all, the voyage back to Coruscant went by easily. Ahsoka was furthermore glad to say that her character had finally reached level thirteen, and was now putting up her very own bard college. By the time they landed in the Jedi Temple, she had regained a decent enough usage of her right hand to restart some basic lightsaber training. Her Master dropped out of sight to talk with Master Yoda, and Ahsoka decided to head towards the training grounds to catch up with Knight Darra -if she was around, of course.
She wasn't. She looked around for a bit, and was just about to leave, when the door slid open behind her and a Padawan stepped inside, a blond haired woman with brown eyes. "Pardon me," the padawan said, "I'm looking for Master Shade's apprentice?" she asked Ahsoka, who nodded back.
"It's me," Ahsoka said. "What can I do for you?"
"Knight Thel-Tanis is currently on a long term assignment," the padawan replied. "She told me to tell you that should you wish to continue your training, Master Shen-Jon will be happy to take over until her return."
"Oh," Ahsoka blinked. "That's...very kind of her, and Master Shen-Jon. Where can I find him?" Ahsoka asked.
"Follow me," the padawan said. "I'll bring you to him. I'm his padawan by the way," the woman said. "I'm Naat, Reath Naat."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ahsoka replied with a smile. "Is Master Shen-Jon strict?" she asked in a hushed whisper to get a conversation going, only to receive a chuckle in reply.
"All the good masters are," Naat pointed out. "It just means they expect more out of their students."
Ahsoka nodded to the wise words. Her Master wasn't that lax, or that strict, for what it mattered. He kind of was in-between. He cared terribly about some things -to the point of audio torture- and was way too lax on others.
Her fellow padawan brought her into the Masters' private quarters, which weren't really any bigger than those of the Padawan -maybe a feet or two wider? Maybe. Probably just her imagination.
Master Echuu Shen-Jon was a black-haired man with brown eyes, who appeared to be deeply troubled if the air around him was of any indication. It was sudden, but Ahsoka suddenly had a very bad impression about him. The bad feeling rippled through the air, and Ahsoka's eyes narrowed in slight suspicion.
"You may go now, Naat," the man said. His padawan hesitated for just a second, and in that second, Ahsoka found herself feeling even worse, as if she wasn't supposed to be in there. The padawan left, and as the door slid closer, the man invited Ahsoka to sit down with a gesture. "Come sit, padawan. We should talk."
"I-Pardon me for being blunt, master," Ahsoka said, "But I prefer to stand."
"Ah, acceptable," the man said. "I heard from Mace that your Master was ambushed on Florrum. You are right to be jumpy, but you have nothing to fear from me," the Jedi Master said. Ahsoka's lips twitched in nervousness all the same. "I will be honest," the man said, "I openly dislike your master, and what he has done to the Jedi Council as a whole." He looked at her firmly, "But I want him to pay for what he has done, and he cannot pay his full sentence if he dies, or if he is turned to the Dark Side."
"I see," Ahsoka said. "Why are we talking then? I don't think Knight Darra would have really asked you to teach me."
"She didn't," the man said. "I lied to my padawan to exclude her from the list of possible suspects. She too has reasons, and doesn't have the necessary training to hold off most of her emotions yet. She does think I might be implied, of course, but if she reports to the High Council about this-"
"Then she's not a spy," Ahsoka said. "But what if she doesn't out of concern for her master?"
"Then she's not ready to become a Knight, and maybe, she's not worthy of being a Jedi either," the Jedi Master replied calmly. "As for why we are having this conversation, it is because your Master asked me."
"But you said you dislike my master," Ahsoka said, a perplexed expression on her face as she gave him a puzzled frown. "Why would he ask you to speak with me?"
"To dissuade you from suffering from his fate, I suspect," Master Shen-Jon said. "It has not yet been rendered public what the decision of the High Council was concerning his fate, and while many Jedi are content to let it be and are accepting of his penitence, many others are not. They will probably view the sentence as a confirmation of his wrongness, and if you were still his padawan by then-"
Ahsoka shook her head. "No, that's-Jedi don't work that way."
"People do," Master Shen-Jon pointed out. "They would come around, but the fact would remain that you'd have to suffer from a stigma not of your making, and your Master doesn't want you to suffer through that."
"Why you?" Ahsoka asked in the end, "Why would he want you to speak with me about this?"
"He used two arguments to convince me," Master Shen-Jon said. "And a third which makes sense, but he had the grace not to speak of loud. The first argument was that Naat is nearly ready to take her Knight trials, and I would soon find myself without a Padawan learner. The second is that you are, believing him, in many ways similar to Naat. You 'always do the right thing'." Ahsoka ground her teeth, and clenched both fists hard by her sides. "And finally, the reason he did not mention was that if I, one who is known as to publicly dislike him, were to take on his padawan, it would aid immensely reduce the social stigma on you."
Ahsoka needed fresh air. "You have time to think about this, padawan," the man said. "I admit I am as troubled as you are about your master's decision, but he is looking out for your best interests, and there is truth in his words."
"I-I can't, I mean...He's my master. He-He'd never-This has got to be a mistake," Ahsoka faltered, "I mean-I was told-I need to speak with him."
"Of course," Master Shen-Jon said. "I am sure this comes to you as much of a shock. He did not tell you, did he?"
"No," Ahsoka replied bitterly. "He didn't."
Master Shen-Jon nodded. "Again, that is in his character. Be careful, padawan. You might not know him as well as I, or others in the temple do, but he possesses a manipulative streak that sometimes surface when you least expect it. I would not be surprised if we were all puppets, dancing to his strings."
Ahsoka bit back a reply. "What...what do you mean, master?"
"You are feeling hurt over his betrayal, are you not? Maybe anger too, and I suspect he will either spin you a tale of how he expected you to feel that way in order to defeat it, or how he expected you to use that in order to stop being his padawan. In either case, he will make it seem as if it were his intention, and his victory, never mind the outcome."
"A-And?" Ahsoka asked.
"And in the end, the question would be...does this mean he actually care about the outcome, or that he doesn't? If he wins no matter the choice, then he truly never cared about the outcome to begin with," Master Shen-Jon said.
"Better to lose, than to win sorely," Ahsoka said in a hushed whisper, and Master Shen-Jon nodded.
"Precisely, padawan. If you leaving his side was actually in your best interest, he would stop at nothing to do so. Yet he does not seem to care, does he? Whether you are by his side or not, it doesn't matter to him."
"He chose me," Ahsoka said, a hand to her chest as she took a step forward. "Master Yoda said he chose me."
"Yes, but he did choose you for your benefit, or for his?" Master Shen-Jon remarked. "In teaching a padawan, both Master and apprentice should benefit from it."
"I have benefited from it!" Ahsoka shot back hotly.
"Have you? Or have you just been led astray?" Master Shen-Jon said. "I can feel the turmoil inside you, padawan. I shall keep you no longer."
Ahsoka rushed outside, fists clenched as she hurried along the hallways of the Jedi Temple. She felt like a rabbit hurrying along, pocket watch in her chest pocket, yet for what exactly she was going to be late for, she had no idea. Yet her feet didn't take her to the Jedi High Council. No, they didn't. They took her towards the Hangars, where her senses were assaulted by the sounds of iron scraping against iron, and not in the good way. No, if anything, the sound was anything but good. And when she came to a stop in front of the broken down hallway that prevented access to the hangar itself, where a gaggle of Jedi was stuck looking at the wreckage in wait for someone to intervene and remove it, Ahsoka's heart nearly burst from how fast it went.
The Jedi temple was under attack.
And whatever was doing the attack was inside the temple's hangar, where she was sure her Master was.
Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!
I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!
Ahsoka's head snapped to the side, where a white rabbit rushed along the side of the external walls of the Jedi Temple, as if gravity didn't exist for him. Thinking quickly, she struck both lightsabers into the side of the wall much to the surprise of the Jedi nearby, who however let her act.
If there is a wall, just smash it. If there is no path, just make it with this hand!
"I'm coming Master," Ahsoka whispered as she looked outside the hole in the wall, and with a resolute nod, used the Force to start climbing the outside wall past the wreckage. The pain in her right hand all but forgotten.
AN: Fun fact: All events taken are canon. Except Asaji's death. Yep. Didn't even have to invent a new event or an OC yet. Man. So much stuff I can use.
Ahsoka started to regret the lack of anesthetic in her bloodstream within the next few hours, but as she regained control of her hand, with the pain attached to it, she hissed less in frustration and more in effort. Her index finger twitched, and soon her middle one did the same motion. It took her four hours, but she could finally close her hand into a fist.
"A prosthetic limb would have been better," Knight Skywalker said dryly, watching her like a hawk. He had probably been 'kicked out' of whatever meeting that was only for the Masters -or maybe he actually cared about a fellow Jedi enough to come visit- or maybe he was bored, and yeah, it was probably the third option. "So," he continued, "You killed Ventress."
"Yeah," Ahsoka said. "I did."
"You know Master Shade hacked her into pieces and then burned her corpse while we were waiting to be rescued, right?" Anakin said, and Ahsoka stopped her motion to turn sharply towards the Jedi Knight, eyes wide.
"He did what?!"
Knight Skywalker crossed his arms together. "He's always had that mania. Makes other Jedi sick, but I can understand it. He uses to say that 'unless they're dead and burned, they're not really dead, just waiting to come back to life later on'."
Ahsoka winced at the thought. "He didn't have to hack her to pieces."
"Well, he simply beheaded her," Anakin pointed out. "Made Master Plo Koon queasy all right -even with the mask, I was sure he'd barf."
Ahsoka nervously chuckled. Her Master hadn't spoken a single word to her about that. She wondered why. Well, maybe it hadn't simply popped up in the conversation. How could it even pop up in a conversation anyway? 'Hey, padawan, you remember the woman you just killed? To make sure she stayed dead for good I beheaded her and burned her corpse' 'Oh geez, Master! Thanks for the thought!'
"You still there, Snips?" Anakin asked, snapping his left hand in front of her face.
"Yes, yes," Ahsoka replied, shaking her head. "Just thinking."
"It must be hard to do that with an empty head," Anakin replied offhandedly. Ahsoka shot him a glare, but Anakin simply smiled back with the smug smirk of victory. "You challenged Dooku, and that's truly the work of an empty-head."
"You wouldn't have done the same?" Ahsoka shot right back at the Knight, who shrugged.
"Course I would have, but I would have won," he said with a hint of pride -no, scratch that, only smugness and a bucketful of pride were heard by Ahsoka's ears with that sentence.
"What's going to happen now?" Ahsoka asked. "We failed-"
"That's...up for debate," Anakin replied. "Yes, Aurra Sing and her crew escaped, but we did solve a pirate problem, and you did remove a thorn on the side of the Republic by killing Ventress. We survived Grievous and Dooku's ambush, and we managed to recover Night before he was shipped off-world. All things considered, this is pretty much a victory."
"But the important ones are still free," Ahsoka whispered.
"That still wouldn't be our fault," Anakin said. "If anything, it would be Night's fault for getting captured." However, he thoughtfully added a moment later, "We'll still have our chance. They can't run forever."
Ahsoka didn't nod at that notion. She just noncommittally shrugged. Few words later, and she was alone in the infirmary once more. She was starting to get bored, and even exercising her right hand was starting to annoy her. Maybe she really should have put a prosthetic in place of her real one. She half-expected her Master to pop his head in before the end of the day, but he didn't. She frowned at that, but then again, maybe he was writing a report about the events that had transpired during his captivity? Although if he had been captured quickly, he'd have nothing more to write than a 'I was knocked out, woke up pissed'.
Again, she wondered how he had woken up pissed. It had happened shortly after Dooku had cut her hand off, which meant it was probably related to that. Could high amounts of pain be transferred from one side to the other? It did make sense for her Master to wake up pissed after that, but did it also mean that he was hurting with his right hand, because hers hurt too?
The door slid open, and as Ahsoka's eyes looked up from her hand to the visitor, the last person she would have expected to come in did so at that precise moment.
"Master Plo," Ahsoka said. "It's a pleasure to see you."
"Likewise, Ahsoka," Master Plo replied. "I assume you are on the way of recovery?"
Ahsoka grinned, and lifted her right hand for Master Plo to see. She closed it into a fist, and kept the smile up even as a small burst of pain rushed through her arm. "Y-Yes," she ground out. "Hurts a bit, but not that much anymore."
Master Plo nodded. "Your Master was thoughtful to recover your hand as well as your lightsabers while escaping the droid carrier, young one," Plo said. "Had he not, you would have required a prosthetic."
"Yeah," Ahsoka smiled. "He's great."
"Which is why I must also warn you, Ahsoka," Master Plo Koon said crisply, "Not to get too attached to him."
Ahsoka frowned. "Master Plo?"
"The concept of Force Bonds is something stigmatized by the Jedi Council, because it is the very definition of attachment. It was once thought that should one who had bonded with another die, then the other would soon follow." Master Plo looked at her with his Kel Doran's imperturbable gaze. "Many in the council feared it to the point where we were inclined to strip him of his connection to the Force after the battle of Geonosis," he added.
Ahsoka's eyes widened. To strip someone of their connection to the Force, it was something only the Jedi High Council could do -and even then, only on the rarest of occasions. It was terrifying. Her blood ran cold at the simple thought.
"B-But nothing happened, did it?" Ahsoka hazarded.
"The war began," Master Plo said. "And the High Council postponed the choice," he continued. "However, your Master already made his decision back then," he acquiesced.
"He...He did?"
"Indeed," Master Plo nodded. "Sometimes, I ponder if he saw all of this and let it play for his purposes, but then I am reminded that he would never willingly subject the galaxy to such horrors, if he could have stopped them from ever beginning."
Master Plo stood up from the chair and crossed his arms within his sleeves. "Rest and recover well, young one. May the Force be with you."
"And with you as well, Master Plo."
As Master Plo turned to leave, Ahsoka frowned. She might have not heard correctly, or let it fly over her head, but- "Master? What did my master choose in the end?"
"When this war shall end," Master Plo said, "So too will Master Shade's connection to the Force be severed."
The door slid to a close behind Master Plo Koon, and Ahsoka was once more left alone with her thoughts, and the medical droid. Her head dropped like a dead weight on the pillow of her bed, and as she stared wide eyed at the ceiling, a thousand different thoughts rushed through her head. Her Master would willfully subject himself to the loss of the Force to atone for his crimes, and someone within the Jedi Temple had deliberately set him up to fall prey to the Separatists' ambush?
There was someone in the Jedi Temple who knew her Master was willing to pay with the connection to the Force, and yet they had all the same decided it wasn't enough? They had decided capture, torture and execution were better?
That made her angry.
Both of her hands clenched hard, and this time, pain did nothing to dissuade Ahsoka from holding her right hand clenched tight. "Let it go~ Let it go~ Can't hold me back anymore~" the sudden singing voice made her freeze. She turned her head sharply to look straight into her Master's amused eyes, arms crossed in front of his chest as he looked at her from the doorway. "Anger leads to the Dark Side, padawan. Acknowledge it and let it go. It can't hurt you anymore~"
Ahsoka shuddered. Her master was utterly tone deaf. He was so tone deaf that it hurt to even hear him sing.
"Master," Ahsoka groaned. "Please stop singing."
"Only if you stop hating," her Master replied with a quip and a chuckle, taking the seat right next to her. "Hate's wrong, padawan. It leads to the Dark Side. I always thought of how I'd go about keeping my own padawans away from the Hate road, and I decided singing to them was the best way."
"You decided audio torture was the best way to keep your students away from the Dark Side?" Ahsoka retorted in surprise. He shrugged.
"If it works it works. So, still hating?"
"How can you just not be angry?" Ahsoka asked, "There's no reason for someone to come after you! You're willing to subject yourself to the harshest of punishments for a Jedi, and yet-"
"Yet if it's not enough, then it's not enough. One can hardly expect an 'I am sorry' to be enough, depending on the severity of the crime. People are not all as forgiving as saints," her Master said. "They'll be satisfied when they will be satisfied, and if it involves death, then it is their choice to rally for it."
"But it's wrong," Ahsoka stressed out.
"I was responsible for many deaths, Ahsoka," her Master acquiesced. "And I did break many a Jedi Code. I am responsible, and my responsibility isn't in question. What is in question is the price I must pay to atone, and I agree -mostly out of selfish interest," here he chuckled. Her Master chuckled at a joke made concerning a threat on his own life, "But in the end, 'whatever will be, will be'. I have to understand as one of the few Jedi unlucky enough to be born with the capacity for visions in the Force that sometimes, you just need to let go and trust yourself to do the right thing."
Ahsoka shook her head slowly. "The right thing does not involve your death, master."
"That's because you know very little of me, Ahsoka. You'd need years of knowledge in who I am to make an appropriate decision on the matter, but unfortunately that will not be the case. I've been discussing with Senator Amidala a chance for a peace treaty, and she does have connections to senators on the Separatists side who are willing to sue for peace. Things are still up in the air," her Master acquiesced, "but hopefully, the war will be over within the end of the year. When that times come, I'll quietly take my leave from the Jedi order, just another footnote in the history of it, and all will be well for the galaxy."
Her Master nodded, and smiled kindly. "I've already made peace with my decision. You thus have no reason to be angry for my sake." He flicked her forehead, "Leave the anger out of this."
Ahsoka mumbled as she used her left hand to massage her forehead. "Fine," she said in the end. "But only if you promise never to sing in my presence again."
"Deal," her master said with a chuckle.
All in all, the voyage back to Coruscant went by easily. Ahsoka was furthermore glad to say that her character had finally reached level thirteen, and was now putting up her very own bard college. By the time they landed in the Jedi Temple, she had regained a decent enough usage of her right hand to restart some basic lightsaber training. Her Master dropped out of sight to talk with Master Yoda, and Ahsoka decided to head towards the training grounds to catch up with Knight Darra -if she was around, of course.
She wasn't. She looked around for a bit, and was just about to leave, when the door slid open behind her and a Padawan stepped inside, a blond haired woman with brown eyes. "Pardon me," the padawan said, "I'm looking for Master Shade's apprentice?" she asked Ahsoka, who nodded back.
"It's me," Ahsoka said. "What can I do for you?"
"Knight Thel-Tanis is currently on a long term assignment," the padawan replied. "She told me to tell you that should you wish to continue your training, Master Shen-Jon will be happy to take over until her return."
"Oh," Ahsoka blinked. "That's...very kind of her, and Master Shen-Jon. Where can I find him?" Ahsoka asked.
"Follow me," the padawan said. "I'll bring you to him. I'm his padawan by the way," the woman said. "I'm Naat, Reath Naat."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ahsoka replied with a smile. "Is Master Shen-Jon strict?" she asked in a hushed whisper to get a conversation going, only to receive a chuckle in reply.
"All the good masters are," Naat pointed out. "It just means they expect more out of their students."
Ahsoka nodded to the wise words. Her Master wasn't that lax, or that strict, for what it mattered. He kind of was in-between. He cared terribly about some things -to the point of audio torture- and was way too lax on others.
Her fellow padawan brought her into the Masters' private quarters, which weren't really any bigger than those of the Padawan -maybe a feet or two wider? Maybe. Probably just her imagination.
Master Echuu Shen-Jon was a black-haired man with brown eyes, who appeared to be deeply troubled if the air around him was of any indication. It was sudden, but Ahsoka suddenly had a very bad impression about him. The bad feeling rippled through the air, and Ahsoka's eyes narrowed in slight suspicion.
"You may go now, Naat," the man said. His padawan hesitated for just a second, and in that second, Ahsoka found herself feeling even worse, as if she wasn't supposed to be in there. The padawan left, and as the door slid closer, the man invited Ahsoka to sit down with a gesture. "Come sit, padawan. We should talk."
"I-Pardon me for being blunt, master," Ahsoka said, "But I prefer to stand."
"Ah, acceptable," the man said. "I heard from Mace that your Master was ambushed on Florrum. You are right to be jumpy, but you have nothing to fear from me," the Jedi Master said. Ahsoka's lips twitched in nervousness all the same. "I will be honest," the man said, "I openly dislike your master, and what he has done to the Jedi Council as a whole." He looked at her firmly, "But I want him to pay for what he has done, and he cannot pay his full sentence if he dies, or if he is turned to the Dark Side."
"I see," Ahsoka said. "Why are we talking then? I don't think Knight Darra would have really asked you to teach me."
"She didn't," the man said. "I lied to my padawan to exclude her from the list of possible suspects. She too has reasons, and doesn't have the necessary training to hold off most of her emotions yet. She does think I might be implied, of course, but if she reports to the High Council about this-"
"Then she's not a spy," Ahsoka said. "But what if she doesn't out of concern for her master?"
"Then she's not ready to become a Knight, and maybe, she's not worthy of being a Jedi either," the Jedi Master replied calmly. "As for why we are having this conversation, it is because your Master asked me."
"But you said you dislike my master," Ahsoka said, a perplexed expression on her face as she gave him a puzzled frown. "Why would he ask you to speak with me?"
"To dissuade you from suffering from his fate, I suspect," Master Shen-Jon said. "It has not yet been rendered public what the decision of the High Council was concerning his fate, and while many Jedi are content to let it be and are accepting of his penitence, many others are not. They will probably view the sentence as a confirmation of his wrongness, and if you were still his padawan by then-"
Ahsoka shook her head. "No, that's-Jedi don't work that way."
"People do," Master Shen-Jon pointed out. "They would come around, but the fact would remain that you'd have to suffer from a stigma not of your making, and your Master doesn't want you to suffer through that."
"Why you?" Ahsoka asked in the end, "Why would he want you to speak with me about this?"
"He used two arguments to convince me," Master Shen-Jon said. "And a third which makes sense, but he had the grace not to speak of loud. The first argument was that Naat is nearly ready to take her Knight trials, and I would soon find myself without a Padawan learner. The second is that you are, believing him, in many ways similar to Naat. You 'always do the right thing'." Ahsoka ground her teeth, and clenched both fists hard by her sides. "And finally, the reason he did not mention was that if I, one who is known as to publicly dislike him, were to take on his padawan, it would aid immensely reduce the social stigma on you."
Ahsoka needed fresh air. "You have time to think about this, padawan," the man said. "I admit I am as troubled as you are about your master's decision, but he is looking out for your best interests, and there is truth in his words."
"I-I can't, I mean...He's my master. He-He'd never-This has got to be a mistake," Ahsoka faltered, "I mean-I was told-I need to speak with him."
"Of course," Master Shen-Jon said. "I am sure this comes to you as much of a shock. He did not tell you, did he?"
"No," Ahsoka replied bitterly. "He didn't."
Master Shen-Jon nodded. "Again, that is in his character. Be careful, padawan. You might not know him as well as I, or others in the temple do, but he possesses a manipulative streak that sometimes surface when you least expect it. I would not be surprised if we were all puppets, dancing to his strings."
Ahsoka bit back a reply. "What...what do you mean, master?"
"You are feeling hurt over his betrayal, are you not? Maybe anger too, and I suspect he will either spin you a tale of how he expected you to feel that way in order to defeat it, or how he expected you to use that in order to stop being his padawan. In either case, he will make it seem as if it were his intention, and his victory, never mind the outcome."
"A-And?" Ahsoka asked.
"And in the end, the question would be...does this mean he actually care about the outcome, or that he doesn't? If he wins no matter the choice, then he truly never cared about the outcome to begin with," Master Shen-Jon said.
"Better to lose, than to win sorely," Ahsoka said in a hushed whisper, and Master Shen-Jon nodded.
"Precisely, padawan. If you leaving his side was actually in your best interest, he would stop at nothing to do so. Yet he does not seem to care, does he? Whether you are by his side or not, it doesn't matter to him."
"He chose me," Ahsoka said, a hand to her chest as she took a step forward. "Master Yoda said he chose me."
"Yes, but he did choose you for your benefit, or for his?" Master Shen-Jon remarked. "In teaching a padawan, both Master and apprentice should benefit from it."
"I have benefited from it!" Ahsoka shot back hotly.
"Have you? Or have you just been led astray?" Master Shen-Jon said. "I can feel the turmoil inside you, padawan. I shall keep you no longer."
Ahsoka rushed outside, fists clenched as she hurried along the hallways of the Jedi Temple. She felt like a rabbit hurrying along, pocket watch in her chest pocket, yet for what exactly she was going to be late for, she had no idea. Yet her feet didn't take her to the Jedi High Council. No, they didn't. They took her towards the Hangars, where her senses were assaulted by the sounds of iron scraping against iron, and not in the good way. No, if anything, the sound was anything but good. And when she came to a stop in front of the broken down hallway that prevented access to the hangar itself, where a gaggle of Jedi was stuck looking at the wreckage in wait for someone to intervene and remove it, Ahsoka's heart nearly burst from how fast it went.
The Jedi temple was under attack.
And whatever was doing the attack was inside the temple's hangar, where she was sure her Master was.
Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!
I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!
Ahsoka's head snapped to the side, where a white rabbit rushed along the side of the external walls of the Jedi Temple, as if gravity didn't exist for him. Thinking quickly, she struck both lightsabers into the side of the wall much to the surprise of the Jedi nearby, who however let her act.
If there is a wall, just smash it. If there is no path, just make it with this hand!
"I'm coming Master," Ahsoka whispered as she looked outside the hole in the wall, and with a resolute nod, used the Force to start climbing the outside wall past the wreckage. The pain in her right hand all but forgotten.
AN: Fun fact: All events taken are canon. Except Asaji's death. Yep. Didn't even have to invent a new event or an OC yet. Man. So much stuff I can use.
Richardson
CAN YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
- Location
- Yes
Oh, something tells me the end of the war isn't going to matter too much...
- Location
- Southport
Wow shade was on the ball with Ventress, no plot armour for her!
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To be Genre-Savvy is a great and terrible thing...
"They will sever his connection to the force"
/looks at the cat.
/looks at the smile.
/tries to imagine what will happen when they do that.
Warp, daemons, Greater Daemons, Various hellish mannifestations, Mr Fluffles...
Uh,huh. Yeah. Sure. You do that. /Takes his pop corn and prepares to watch from several galaxies away.
/looks at the cat.
/looks at the smile.
/tries to imagine what will happen when they do that.
Warp, daemons, Greater Daemons, Various hellish mannifestations, Mr Fluffles...
Uh,huh. Yeah. Sure. You do that. /Takes his pop corn and prepares to watch from several galaxies away.
Fabula Amanti
I want a Grimoire, but I got books.
- Location
- Singapore
You know telling someone that a person you trust explicitly is manipulating you is not a good way to start a cordial relationship much less a master student one.
I can just imagine. Shade's dead. Palpatines dead. All the Sith are dead. Except one.
Instead of Anakin it would be Ahsoka who becomes the Sith. All because she held a grudge against the Jedi who hurt her master so.
The grudge that grew and grew and grew. Because the Jedi who did not trust him, who were afraid of he what could do, and at the end of it all feared him so much that they felt his given fate wasn't enough.
And when no one who cared for him was around. He would be betrayed. He would die, painfully he would die. But unexpectedly with a smile on his face. Like he knew what they would do. His face would haunt those guilty. Plague upon their conscience so much that one of them would crack and confess.
When Ahsoka finds out. Instead of an outburst,there would be quiet. Instead of rage, there would be peace. For she was a Jedi and they knew control.
But as days pass, that rage she contained, that hate she held back would stew and burn. Bit by bit it would smolder.
And as she looked for the ones responsible. The truth that came to light would feed her hate. Until one day, she leaves. Without a word to anyone, she would disappear from the temple.
The Jedi would look for her to no avail. Time would continue to pass as her presence is slowly forgotten. Until one day, she returned.
Returned with Vengeance and Power only the Dark Side would have.
She would hunt those who hurt her master with a fury. She would try to avoid those who shielded them. Yet, as they hindered her goals. She would care less and less about their presence. Slowly, but surely she would maim then end those who got in her way.
Until her targets turned from the few to the many. And then to the all. For all of them will pay for what they have done.
All of them will pay. She would say. For all of them are just as guilty. She would reason. Until my master is avenged. She would declare.
But she would never stop, for no matter how much she killed, destroyed and tore apart, it would never be enough. Because for a Sith, their hatred burned endlessly.
What started for her master would turn into what would be for her. Her Revenge. It would be the Revenge of the Sith.
Umm, what on a spiel there sorry. Nice work as always Shade.
I can just imagine. Shade's dead. Palpatines dead. All the Sith are dead. Except one.
Instead of Anakin it would be Ahsoka who becomes the Sith. All because she held a grudge against the Jedi who hurt her master so.
The grudge that grew and grew and grew. Because the Jedi who did not trust him, who were afraid of he what could do, and at the end of it all feared him so much that they felt his given fate wasn't enough.
And when no one who cared for him was around. He would be betrayed. He would die, painfully he would die. But unexpectedly with a smile on his face. Like he knew what they would do. His face would haunt those guilty. Plague upon their conscience so much that one of them would crack and confess.
When Ahsoka finds out. Instead of an outburst,there would be quiet. Instead of rage, there would be peace. For she was a Jedi and they knew control.
But as days pass, that rage she contained, that hate she held back would stew and burn. Bit by bit it would smolder.
And as she looked for the ones responsible. The truth that came to light would feed her hate. Until one day, she leaves. Without a word to anyone, she would disappear from the temple.
The Jedi would look for her to no avail. Time would continue to pass as her presence is slowly forgotten. Until one day, she returned.
Returned with Vengeance and Power only the Dark Side would have.
She would hunt those who hurt her master with a fury. She would try to avoid those who shielded them. Yet, as they hindered her goals. She would care less and less about their presence. Slowly, but surely she would maim then end those who got in her way.
Until her targets turned from the few to the many. And then to the all. For all of them will pay for what they have done.
All of them will pay. She would say. For all of them are just as guilty. She would reason. Until my master is avenged. She would declare.
But she would never stop, for no matter how much she killed, destroyed and tore apart, it would never be enough. Because for a Sith, their hatred burned endlessly.
What started for her master would turn into what would be for her. Her Revenge. It would be the Revenge of the Sith.
Umm, what on a spiel there sorry. Nice work as always Shade.
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TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
The eventual Vong invasion?
- Location
- US
After the war, Ahsoka is sitting with her master shortly after the council blocked off his connection
*POP* "M-master! How did you regain your connection to the force, the entire High Council worked together to block it off?!"
"Mwahahaha! My young padawan, have you ever heard the story of the Jedi Exile?"
"Uh, her statue is in the archives as one of the masters who got kicked out of the order for philosophical reasons?"
"She became a void in the force, just like I am, via the very process that the council tried to perform on me. The fools never even realized that they were only Making Me STRONGER! MwaHaHaHa!"
Yeah, trying to block off his connection would do nothing.
*POP* "M-master! How did you regain your connection to the force, the entire High Council worked together to block it off?!"
"Mwahahaha! My young padawan, have you ever heard the story of the Jedi Exile?"
"Uh, her statue is in the archives as one of the masters who got kicked out of the order for philosophical reasons?"
"She became a void in the force, just like I am, via the very process that the council tried to perform on me. The fools never even realized that they were only Making Me STRONGER! MwaHaHaHa!"
Yeah, trying to block off his connection would do nothing.
Okay um, just curious, but why would Palpatine's death cause the destruction of the Jedi? I do not see the causation involved.
I do of course have to laugh forever that the Jedi council was ever in favor of something that would bring ballance to the force when they were 'winning' thousands of jedi per sith lord. I mean seriously, you shouldn't be in favor of ballance in the force if your side is winning!
nasuren
Stop! Coffee time!
If a Jedi kills him? How you think it would end with the Anti-Jedi sentiment in the Republic?
"MRE master?"
"What?"
"You turn into a genocidal Sith Lord when you're hungry. Better?"
"Better."
Also curse you for making me remember Highlander Endgame.
"He fell."
"From the window? That's reinforced plastic designed to stop people from being thrown from it."
"I don't know to say officer. He tripped and then fell. I tried to catch him but he smashed through the window and fell out."
"Uh huh."
"Have I thoroughly answered your questions?"
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Cutting Shade off from the Force? The High Council really has no sense of history, do they? This can only end in tears and fire.
Hohoho, I remember this one. This must come to pass.
LD1449
To the last; Kill them all
- Location
- The other side of the labyrinth.
I'm gonna jump on a bit of a wagon and say that the council deciding to cut him off from the force makes little sense given his status. He's already said he's born without a midichlorian count. That means that whatever ritual they would conduct that would affect those little buggers in the first place is already null and void. And considering that he merely draws force energy from others like some kind of intergalactic parasite the only way to cut him off from the force would be to cut him off from people entirely whilst also working the doo-hickey magic ritual thing on a constant basis since you kinda have to meet and interact with people every day.
Furthermore IF it really is so apparent that others within the order hold a grudge against him, enough that mere acquaintance would turn his Padawan into a Pariah when he's gone, also enough to betray him to the seps, unless these domestic and external threats are removed (decisively like Ventress) they may as well be signing an execution order for him.
Furthermore IF it really is so apparent that others within the order hold a grudge against him, enough that mere acquaintance would turn his Padawan into a Pariah when he's gone, also enough to betray him to the seps, unless these domestic and external threats are removed (decisively like Ventress) they may as well be signing an execution order for him.