Why was there a refinery in the royal palace?
I have a very strange Master (Star Wars/SI) EPI-EPII
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
Why was there a refinery in the royal palace?
NHO
Dumb is a state of existence
- Location
- ᓚᘏᗢ
Star Wars.
And do remember, Maul came back in comics, as an torso on robot legs (possibly six of them, I do not remember).
Sudden feeling that he returned at least two different times, independently from each other.
Timeline consistency, where are you?
And do remember, Maul came back in comics, as an torso on robot legs (possibly six of them, I do not remember).
Sudden feeling that he returned at least two different times, independently from each other.
Timeline consistency, where are you?
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Former King wanted extra funding.
Chapter Twenty-Five
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Twenty-Five
The next day, a different type of smoke lifted in the air of the hangar. There were no ships inbound, but the clothes of the deceased -the corpses had all disappeared, every single one of them- were burned together with their few and sparse possessions. Ahsoka looked on from a walkway above, since there was practically no space left in the hangar's main floor. Chancellor Palpatine was there too, and he was speaking with true sadness in his voice about the despicable attack, and about how whoever had committed such treason was going to be severely punished. Ahsoka clenched both of her hands and closed her eyes, the silent simmering of anger in the back of her throat coming from her master's now cold fury, the Jedi Master himself not even present. He had been locked in meditation since the day before, and with the doors closed there had been no way in.
Well, she could have sliced a path through of course, but she highly suspected that if Yoda himself hadn't entered the door after knocking futilely once, then who was she to go at it the 'heavy handed way'?
Knight Skywalker was praised for killing one of Dooku's 'Dark Apprentices', apparently a certain Darth Trennox, or some similar name. A clone trooper received a commendation for fighting many a robot in the downtown of Coruscant -the reason they hadn't arrived sooner had been assassin droids striking everywhere at once. The security codes to Coruscant were going to be changed, and made more secure -that much the Chancellor promised.
As the procession finished, and the Chancellor left, Ahsoka walked away and through the temple's corridors which were being repaired, or cleaned a bit further, to restore them to their original self. Her Master's meditation chambers were still closed, but the pulsing anger behind it had largely left the place to a sort of quiet lull. She crossed her legs in front of the doors and sighed.
The attack had been terrible, but the Jedi High council wanted to know what had gone on -Obi-Wan had given his report, but the one that was missing was her master's.
What surprised Ahsoka however was that although Master Yoda taught how the fall to the Dark Side was permanent, her Master had fallen and come back like a rubber band, as if it had just been a temporary dip, and nothing more. She didn't know whether to be intrigued or scared, but that hardly mattered at the present. What mattered was to get her Master to stop sulking.
The moment she opened her eyes after entering meditation, she balked. The Cheshire Cat was resting in front of the door, a wicked grin on his face and eyes narrow. "So you want to step inside the court of the Queen of Hearts?" the cat actually spoke to her, "My Alice, how bold are you? Be careful, if you don't know how to dance your head will be chopped off."
To enforce the point, the Cheshire Cat moved a claw across his neck and made his head bounce on the floor, body invisible at the doors slid open to allow him entrance. She stood up and stepped inside, Mister Fluffles following her with a slightly worried meowing sound. Past the doors, there wasn't her Master's meditation chambers anymore.
There was a large hallway covered in blood and grime. The viscous liquid dripped from the walls and the ceiling, and Ahsoka balked as she watched the flesh twitch from the very walls. She took a deep breath, and then stepped on the matted mass of vein-filled crimson tentacles that formed the floor. There was an oppressive feeling of darkness everywhere around her, as the screams of hatred and anger cracked apart at their very seems.
"We are all mad over here, Alice," the Cheshire Cat spoke in front of Ahsoka, his form slowly moving to that of the lumbering Akul-like form. "This is the madness we hold at bay. It is for our sake, and for that of the galaxy itself," the Cat looked back at her, and grinned one of its diabolical grins. "You think you can help? Then let us see what you can do."
Ahsoka swallowed thickly as the Cheshire Cat opened a set of heavy doors made of battered dark steel, which creaked as they moved aside. A shower of blood fell from high above, where the doors struck the ceiling. The Cheshire Cat did not care that his fur had become slick with blood, and simply began to shrink in size back to its tabby-like appearance. A few steps further, and he disappeared into nothingness.
"That wasn't supposed to happen!" her Master's voice came like a crashing thunder through the hall, which looked like a cathedral -what with the colored glass, the tall walls of black marble, and the columns holding the rooftop. Figures of weeping angels adorned the walls and the niches all around, and an altar shattered and broken stood at the far side of the cross-shaped hall.
Her Master's fist was at the center of the crack that spanned the entirety of the altar, and a mellifluous figure stood coyly on the other side of it. She grinned, her hair slick with blood and her fingers with long, crimson nails. "What did you expect?" she whispered in a sultry voice. "That he'd do nothing?"
"I destroyed the foundries of Metalorn!" her Master rebuked her, slapping the hand away. "I tore them apart! I killed the scientists leading the projects! I murdered them, their aides, everyone who was linked to it! I made sure."
"You didn't 'make sure' enough," the woman replied with a wink. "You need to make the galaxy a desert, and then you are free to call it peace."
"Shut it," her Master growled to the figure.
Ahsoka hesitated at the entrance of the hall. "They're always like this," a tiny voice squeaked by her side, making her turn her head to look down at a very familiar figure -it was the same child that she had seen after defeating her master's 'Wrath'. It was...well, her Master looked kind of chubby when he was younger.
"They?" Ahsoka asked.
The young-Master Shade nodded. "The Force...it's kind of alive," he said. "We developed a special rapport with it, to manage its power and to avoid falling into greed, into desire, into passion. When you repress stuff, you hide it under a corner," her Master's younger self said. "We were the best at that. We did it for years," he whispered. "And then we had a nervous breakdown. Then we got better," he continued, "But...you know, even a high stress tolerance eventually breaks. So we used this," he gestured around. "And it helped. It helped for a long while. Only, now it's all slipping away and it's hard holding it all back. It just wants to come out, like a bubbling feeling in your chest, you know? When you're really excited, and you want to scream it out loud, but you can't, not yet, because it's not really the moment yet for it..."
His voice grew quiet all of a sudden. "They stopped screaming at each other."
Ahsoka turned to look once more at the altar, only to come face to face with a vicious, feral smirk from the woman itself. She took a step back in fear, and as tendrils shot out of the walls to block the exit, her fear grew.
"Oh my," the woman whispered, "What do we have here."
"Ahsoka," her Master said, nearing her briskly, "What are you doing here?"
"Master, the High Council wanted your report on the events," Ahsoka said, trying to sidestep the woman to reach her Master, only for said annoyance to keep blocking her path. "Will you let me through?" she hissed in the end, and the woman simply smiled even more deviously, if such a thing was possible.
"Make me," the woman replied with a vicious grin.
"Ahsoka, don't-" but her Master was suddenly flung away, against a side of the cathedral as fleshy tendrils swiftly drowned him in its entirety.
"Hey!" Ahsoka yelled, a hand raised only for a tendril to sprout from the floor to grab at her. The tendril pushed her down on her knees, hurting her as spikes began to grow across its surface.
"Have they never taught you proper etiquette?" the woman smirked. "You must bow to your Queen when you enter her room."
Mister Fluffles sliced with one of his cute paws at the tendril, shattering it just in time for Ahsoka to duck and avoid a swipe of a crimson lightsaber. The walls began to drip with blood as the woman called forth another lightsaber from behind the altar. "So?!" the woman said with a crispy chuckle, "Are you coming? Or are you scared of me, Alice?"
Ahsoka snarled as she charged ahead, "Mister Fluffles!" she called, and Mister Fluffles sprung into action, lightsaber appearing in his right paw as he grew in size. He jumped and attacked from the side, but a tentacle grabbed him by the tail and threw him back against the walls, where spikes erupted and stabbed through his entire body.
"Now, now, this is between you and me!" the Queen said with a bright grin as she parried the twin strike of Ahsoka. Her face drew near to the lightsabers blade, as if unafraid of being pushed back. Ahsoka pushed all of her strength in overpowering the woman, but seemed to fail to even gain an inch.
Mister Fluffles screamed in pain as the tentacles ravaged across his wounds, widening them with vicious savagery. "Stop this!" Ahsoka snarled.
"Or what?" the woman replied with a hearty chuckle. "You are not your master. You have no power here. You come waltzing in expecting to be the linchpin of change? Who the hell do you think you are?! Do you think being a Disney princess is enough to stop a Queen? I am Despair made manifest, I am Hatred given form, I am the Madness that inhabits this body, and you have no power here!" with a bellowing roar, Ahsoka found her feet slipping on the floor of the cathedral as she was pushed back.
The figure spun and delivered a kick to her hands, making her lose her guard as the woman came down with both of her lightsabers to finish the pirouette in mid-air. Ahsoka saw the lightsabers come for her, and widened her eyes. She tried to bring her lightsabers back into a guard, but the enemy was fast, too fast, she wouldn't manage in time, she would never manage in time-
Desperation fueled her body, and she moved faster than she expected. What was impossible became possible, and with surprising agility, she blocked the strike.
"Despair gives us purpose," the woman laughed out, "Hatred makes us strong," she took a step forward, "And the madness makes it all bearable!" with a cackling, mad laughter the woman pushed Ahsoka further back, and the Togruta realized that if it kept up, she'd end with her back against the wall. The wall positively crawling with tentacles made of fleshy veins and sharp, black thorns.
"What's your problem?!" Ahsoka shot back at the woman. "Why are you doing this?!"
"Because it all could have been avoided!" the woman snarled in a howl. "All it took would have been ONE DEATH! ONE DEATH, AND ALL WOULD HAVE ENDED! BUT NO! IT WOULDN'T HAVE HELPED IN THE LONG RUN! SO BECAUSE WE COULDN'T KILL ONE SITH, WE MUST SUFFER THE DEATH OF HUNDREDS OF INNOCENTS! THOUSANDS! TENS OF THOUSANDS!" as the woman screamed, as the Queen of Hearts howled, the lightsabers she used furiously burned brighter than ever as the plasma within could barely be contained. Attack after attack rained on Ahsoka, who refusing to back away had no choice but to start to kneel down as each attack made her arms trembled and her hands hurt from the effort of not losing her grip.
"You have no idea," the Queen whispered in a softer voice, as she chuckled. "He kept you away from it. He kept you all away from it. Master Yoda's a good...a good thing, whatever his race is. He never told. Never knew himself, probably. But he wouldn't approve. That's why we are here. We have to hide it behind a facade, we have to hide it all." the Queen grinned. "That's why, I'm not going to let you win this battle, Alice. This battle, this very, very important battle, you will lose it."
Her lightsabers stopping coming down on Ahsoka, and instead suddenly spun in an uppercut. The Togruta fell on the ground trying to roll away, and in so doing ended up with her back against the wall, which quickly ensnared her right up as the thorns began to prickle at her skin and make her bleed. She tried to push herself off and with her teeth brought a lit lightsaber to cut them.
A rain of blood fell on her montrals and on her back as she twisted away from the tentacles' hold, and summoned into her hands both lightsabers to fight again, to fight more, to win.
"Do or do not," Ahsoka snarled. "There." She pounced on the woman and attacked, aiming for her heart which forced the woman back. "Is." So what if she couldn't move the lightsabers? So what if she couldn't overpower her? A lightsaber left Mister Fluffles' paw and ignited as it sailed straight for the Queen's back. "No." Ahsoka howled as she crossed her lightsabers to freeze the Queen in place. "Try."
The Queen gasped as her heart was pierced from behind, and like her Master had done in front of her eyes with Grievous, Ahsoka saw. "Now...Alice," Ahsoka whispered, her eyes locking with those of Alice herself, the mad Queen of Hearts, "It is time to die." And be at peace. The unspoken words hung in the emptiness, even as lightsabers cracked open from the walls to strike down at the Queen of Hearts. Beneath the flesh, beneath the blood, hidden by the sense of Guilt and Grief for all those sacrificed for the Greater Good, all of the lightsabers symbolizing the fallen Jedi came down like a torrential flood of ignited plasma.
As a thousand and a thousand more struck through every pore of skin available on the woman's surface, Ahsoka looked sadly on.
"It's time I go..." Alice whispered. "Time I wake up."
The Force rippled at its very seams, and broke apart the mad Queen of Hearts, leaving nothing behind but dust. Dust, and what looked like a family picture that swiftly disappeared from Ahsoka's sight to end in her Master's hands. He looked at it with a sad expression, and then sighed, shaking his head as he moved towards the altar to drop it off.
"Do you know why," her Master said as he turned to look at her, "I picked Alice in Wonderland?" he began to near her, as Mister Fluffles dropped from the side of the wall, now sporting a slightly bulkier build, four arms like those of the Cheshire Cat at its side.
"Master," Ahsoka replied with a light chuckle. "I think that's because you're mad, and everyone was mad in the book."
Her Master chuckled back. "Probably," he acquiesced. "I do so hate...well, more like dislike, the Force's shenanigans. Still, I heard something about being needed by the Jedi High Council?"
Ahsoka frowned. Her master was trying to change the conversation into a direction he preferred -but she wasn't going to stand for it, not now that she had a thousand more questions to ask about-
A Force flick hit her forehead, and she winced as she rubbed it. "Later," he said. "Not now, padawan," he whispered. "I promise that soon, I'll answer all of your questions. Until then, let's take our leave from this place," he continued as he put a hand on her shoulder and made her gently turn to leave behind the church, the church that now felt terribly familiar to Ahsoka, as if she had been in there more than once, and not always for happy occasions.
The doors of the church opened on the outside to a neat cobblestone square, a place of rock, and masonry. The ground broke around them as they began to walk on a road surrounded in the darkness, out of the meditation, and into the reality of the situation.
Ahsoka's eyes slowly opened to her Master's meditation chambers door. Only, she was on the other side of them, and she was resting her head on her master's lap. He gently patted her forehead.
"Time to wake up, Ahsoka," he whispered.
She stretched and stood up, looking at the sand and the rocks around them, at peace. Having no desire to alter the sand pattern on the ground, Ahsoka carefully used the force to levitate her body gently as if she were lifting a lightsaber, in order to pass without leaving behind any sign. She actually succeeded on the first try. No, she succeeded because she knew what she had to do, and she knew, because the Bond with her Master had grown further.
His power was now flowing through her too. His strength, his will, his knowledge was but a question away. Yet she would not ask.
She had to conquer Curiosity after all, and so, she would not ask.
Her Master grinned at her as he stepped by her side without touching the sand pattern either.
"Padawans," he said with a chuckle, "They learn and grow up so fast."
"I'm the best," Ahsoka nodded with a thin smudge of pride in her voice. "Ain't I the best?"
"Careful not to get too prideful," her Master pointed out. "Now let's go report to the Council of how Aurra Sing and her merry gang of mercenaries won't harm anyone else ever again," he acquiesced. "And of who made sure they slipped in during the confusion." He sighed and looked at her. "For what it matters, Ahsoka," he said as he began to walk towards the Jedi High Council, with her following his side. "I am sorry."
Ahsoka shrugged and grinned. "Doesn't matter, Master." She blinked the next moment, "Oh, right, I was nearly forgetting something very important," she added. "You remember...when you said you picked me because you were sure I'd always do the right thing?"
"Yes," her Master replied, already dreading her answer.
"Well, I think the right thing is for me to keep being your Padawan until the Council takes the Force away from you," Ahsoka said, "And after that happens, then I'll just have to ask Master Kenobi if he's in need of a new Padawan learner. Knight Skywalker won't be knight for much longer, will he?"
"And how do you know that?" her Master remarked.
"Because that's your hope, isn't it? You care," Ahsoka said with a bright, bubbly grin. "You care a lot, maybe too much, but you care. We all get it. All of us, you know," she chuckled as they passed by Ferus, who had just so casually been on the way to the other side of the Temple, and Knight Darra, who was accompanying him. By happenstance, they crossed Anakin Skywalker and Master Kenobi, and on the way, more than a couple of Younglings and awestruck Padawans had some important business to do near them. It was a silent form of support.
Her Master sighed. He rolled his eyes. "No attachments is kind-of a very important rule, Ahsoka."
"Then I promise I won't go on a rampage if you go away, or die," Ahsoka chuckled. "What is the term? Uhm...'Yandere'?"
Her Master visibly recoiled as if struck. "Maybe it was a bad idea to-"
"No, no," Ahsoka giggled. "I like it. There's so much...woah, is this how you see the world, Master? It's-" and suddenly it was cut off. "Hey!" she pouted.
"Curiosity, Ahsoka," her Master chided her as he neared the doors to the Jedi High Council. "Curiosity killed the Togruta."
And then he stepped inside, leaving her to wait outside with an unspoken gesture.
Ahsoka turned her back to the doors and stretched with her hands behind her back, a bright grin on her face, just like that of the Cheshire Cat.
All was right in the world, and in the galaxy, and the dark clouds of the day before had disappeared once more to leave place to the sun.
She wondered however, she wondered all the same...
Whom did Master Shade not kill, that could have avoided this all war from beginning?
And what reason could there be, worse than this war, to force him to pick this war over peace?
Still, whatever reason there could be, she'd discover it.
She'd discover it, and then, together with her Master, she'd face it as his Padawan.
Unless she became a Knight.
In which case, she'd face it like a Knight by his side.
Maybe he'd play the role of the Princess captured by the evil dragon?
She chuckled at the mental image.
Her Master wearing a princess dress and being locked atop a high tower waiting to be saved...and annoying the dragon to no end.
The next day, a different type of smoke lifted in the air of the hangar. There were no ships inbound, but the clothes of the deceased -the corpses had all disappeared, every single one of them- were burned together with their few and sparse possessions. Ahsoka looked on from a walkway above, since there was practically no space left in the hangar's main floor. Chancellor Palpatine was there too, and he was speaking with true sadness in his voice about the despicable attack, and about how whoever had committed such treason was going to be severely punished. Ahsoka clenched both of her hands and closed her eyes, the silent simmering of anger in the back of her throat coming from her master's now cold fury, the Jedi Master himself not even present. He had been locked in meditation since the day before, and with the doors closed there had been no way in.
Well, she could have sliced a path through of course, but she highly suspected that if Yoda himself hadn't entered the door after knocking futilely once, then who was she to go at it the 'heavy handed way'?
Knight Skywalker was praised for killing one of Dooku's 'Dark Apprentices', apparently a certain Darth Trennox, or some similar name. A clone trooper received a commendation for fighting many a robot in the downtown of Coruscant -the reason they hadn't arrived sooner had been assassin droids striking everywhere at once. The security codes to Coruscant were going to be changed, and made more secure -that much the Chancellor promised.
As the procession finished, and the Chancellor left, Ahsoka walked away and through the temple's corridors which were being repaired, or cleaned a bit further, to restore them to their original self. Her Master's meditation chambers were still closed, but the pulsing anger behind it had largely left the place to a sort of quiet lull. She crossed her legs in front of the doors and sighed.
The attack had been terrible, but the Jedi High council wanted to know what had gone on -Obi-Wan had given his report, but the one that was missing was her master's.
What surprised Ahsoka however was that although Master Yoda taught how the fall to the Dark Side was permanent, her Master had fallen and come back like a rubber band, as if it had just been a temporary dip, and nothing more. She didn't know whether to be intrigued or scared, but that hardly mattered at the present. What mattered was to get her Master to stop sulking.
The moment she opened her eyes after entering meditation, she balked. The Cheshire Cat was resting in front of the door, a wicked grin on his face and eyes narrow. "So you want to step inside the court of the Queen of Hearts?" the cat actually spoke to her, "My Alice, how bold are you? Be careful, if you don't know how to dance your head will be chopped off."
To enforce the point, the Cheshire Cat moved a claw across his neck and made his head bounce on the floor, body invisible at the doors slid open to allow him entrance. She stood up and stepped inside, Mister Fluffles following her with a slightly worried meowing sound. Past the doors, there wasn't her Master's meditation chambers anymore.
There was a large hallway covered in blood and grime. The viscous liquid dripped from the walls and the ceiling, and Ahsoka balked as she watched the flesh twitch from the very walls. She took a deep breath, and then stepped on the matted mass of vein-filled crimson tentacles that formed the floor. There was an oppressive feeling of darkness everywhere around her, as the screams of hatred and anger cracked apart at their very seems.
"We are all mad over here, Alice," the Cheshire Cat spoke in front of Ahsoka, his form slowly moving to that of the lumbering Akul-like form. "This is the madness we hold at bay. It is for our sake, and for that of the galaxy itself," the Cat looked back at her, and grinned one of its diabolical grins. "You think you can help? Then let us see what you can do."
Ahsoka swallowed thickly as the Cheshire Cat opened a set of heavy doors made of battered dark steel, which creaked as they moved aside. A shower of blood fell from high above, where the doors struck the ceiling. The Cheshire Cat did not care that his fur had become slick with blood, and simply began to shrink in size back to its tabby-like appearance. A few steps further, and he disappeared into nothingness.
"That wasn't supposed to happen!" her Master's voice came like a crashing thunder through the hall, which looked like a cathedral -what with the colored glass, the tall walls of black marble, and the columns holding the rooftop. Figures of weeping angels adorned the walls and the niches all around, and an altar shattered and broken stood at the far side of the cross-shaped hall.
Her Master's fist was at the center of the crack that spanned the entirety of the altar, and a mellifluous figure stood coyly on the other side of it. She grinned, her hair slick with blood and her fingers with long, crimson nails. "What did you expect?" she whispered in a sultry voice. "That he'd do nothing?"
"I destroyed the foundries of Metalorn!" her Master rebuked her, slapping the hand away. "I tore them apart! I killed the scientists leading the projects! I murdered them, their aides, everyone who was linked to it! I made sure."
"You didn't 'make sure' enough," the woman replied with a wink. "You need to make the galaxy a desert, and then you are free to call it peace."
"Shut it," her Master growled to the figure.
Ahsoka hesitated at the entrance of the hall. "They're always like this," a tiny voice squeaked by her side, making her turn her head to look down at a very familiar figure -it was the same child that she had seen after defeating her master's 'Wrath'. It was...well, her Master looked kind of chubby when he was younger.
"They?" Ahsoka asked.
The young-Master Shade nodded. "The Force...it's kind of alive," he said. "We developed a special rapport with it, to manage its power and to avoid falling into greed, into desire, into passion. When you repress stuff, you hide it under a corner," her Master's younger self said. "We were the best at that. We did it for years," he whispered. "And then we had a nervous breakdown. Then we got better," he continued, "But...you know, even a high stress tolerance eventually breaks. So we used this," he gestured around. "And it helped. It helped for a long while. Only, now it's all slipping away and it's hard holding it all back. It just wants to come out, like a bubbling feeling in your chest, you know? When you're really excited, and you want to scream it out loud, but you can't, not yet, because it's not really the moment yet for it..."
His voice grew quiet all of a sudden. "They stopped screaming at each other."
Ahsoka turned to look once more at the altar, only to come face to face with a vicious, feral smirk from the woman itself. She took a step back in fear, and as tendrils shot out of the walls to block the exit, her fear grew.
"Oh my," the woman whispered, "What do we have here."
"Ahsoka," her Master said, nearing her briskly, "What are you doing here?"
"Master, the High Council wanted your report on the events," Ahsoka said, trying to sidestep the woman to reach her Master, only for said annoyance to keep blocking her path. "Will you let me through?" she hissed in the end, and the woman simply smiled even more deviously, if such a thing was possible.
"Make me," the woman replied with a vicious grin.
"Ahsoka, don't-" but her Master was suddenly flung away, against a side of the cathedral as fleshy tendrils swiftly drowned him in its entirety.
"Hey!" Ahsoka yelled, a hand raised only for a tendril to sprout from the floor to grab at her. The tendril pushed her down on her knees, hurting her as spikes began to grow across its surface.
"Have they never taught you proper etiquette?" the woman smirked. "You must bow to your Queen when you enter her room."
Mister Fluffles sliced with one of his cute paws at the tendril, shattering it just in time for Ahsoka to duck and avoid a swipe of a crimson lightsaber. The walls began to drip with blood as the woman called forth another lightsaber from behind the altar. "So?!" the woman said with a crispy chuckle, "Are you coming? Or are you scared of me, Alice?"
Ahsoka snarled as she charged ahead, "Mister Fluffles!" she called, and Mister Fluffles sprung into action, lightsaber appearing in his right paw as he grew in size. He jumped and attacked from the side, but a tentacle grabbed him by the tail and threw him back against the walls, where spikes erupted and stabbed through his entire body.
"Now, now, this is between you and me!" the Queen said with a bright grin as she parried the twin strike of Ahsoka. Her face drew near to the lightsabers blade, as if unafraid of being pushed back. Ahsoka pushed all of her strength in overpowering the woman, but seemed to fail to even gain an inch.
Mister Fluffles screamed in pain as the tentacles ravaged across his wounds, widening them with vicious savagery. "Stop this!" Ahsoka snarled.
"Or what?" the woman replied with a hearty chuckle. "You are not your master. You have no power here. You come waltzing in expecting to be the linchpin of change? Who the hell do you think you are?! Do you think being a Disney princess is enough to stop a Queen? I am Despair made manifest, I am Hatred given form, I am the Madness that inhabits this body, and you have no power here!" with a bellowing roar, Ahsoka found her feet slipping on the floor of the cathedral as she was pushed back.
The figure spun and delivered a kick to her hands, making her lose her guard as the woman came down with both of her lightsabers to finish the pirouette in mid-air. Ahsoka saw the lightsabers come for her, and widened her eyes. She tried to bring her lightsabers back into a guard, but the enemy was fast, too fast, she wouldn't manage in time, she would never manage in time-
Desperation fueled her body, and she moved faster than she expected. What was impossible became possible, and with surprising agility, she blocked the strike.
"Despair gives us purpose," the woman laughed out, "Hatred makes us strong," she took a step forward, "And the madness makes it all bearable!" with a cackling, mad laughter the woman pushed Ahsoka further back, and the Togruta realized that if it kept up, she'd end with her back against the wall. The wall positively crawling with tentacles made of fleshy veins and sharp, black thorns.
"What's your problem?!" Ahsoka shot back at the woman. "Why are you doing this?!"
"Because it all could have been avoided!" the woman snarled in a howl. "All it took would have been ONE DEATH! ONE DEATH, AND ALL WOULD HAVE ENDED! BUT NO! IT WOULDN'T HAVE HELPED IN THE LONG RUN! SO BECAUSE WE COULDN'T KILL ONE SITH, WE MUST SUFFER THE DEATH OF HUNDREDS OF INNOCENTS! THOUSANDS! TENS OF THOUSANDS!" as the woman screamed, as the Queen of Hearts howled, the lightsabers she used furiously burned brighter than ever as the plasma within could barely be contained. Attack after attack rained on Ahsoka, who refusing to back away had no choice but to start to kneel down as each attack made her arms trembled and her hands hurt from the effort of not losing her grip.
"You have no idea," the Queen whispered in a softer voice, as she chuckled. "He kept you away from it. He kept you all away from it. Master Yoda's a good...a good thing, whatever his race is. He never told. Never knew himself, probably. But he wouldn't approve. That's why we are here. We have to hide it behind a facade, we have to hide it all." the Queen grinned. "That's why, I'm not going to let you win this battle, Alice. This battle, this very, very important battle, you will lose it."
Her lightsabers stopping coming down on Ahsoka, and instead suddenly spun in an uppercut. The Togruta fell on the ground trying to roll away, and in so doing ended up with her back against the wall, which quickly ensnared her right up as the thorns began to prickle at her skin and make her bleed. She tried to push herself off and with her teeth brought a lit lightsaber to cut them.
A rain of blood fell on her montrals and on her back as she twisted away from the tentacles' hold, and summoned into her hands both lightsabers to fight again, to fight more, to win.
"Do or do not," Ahsoka snarled. "There." She pounced on the woman and attacked, aiming for her heart which forced the woman back. "Is." So what if she couldn't move the lightsabers? So what if she couldn't overpower her? A lightsaber left Mister Fluffles' paw and ignited as it sailed straight for the Queen's back. "No." Ahsoka howled as she crossed her lightsabers to freeze the Queen in place. "Try."
The Queen gasped as her heart was pierced from behind, and like her Master had done in front of her eyes with Grievous, Ahsoka saw. "Now...Alice," Ahsoka whispered, her eyes locking with those of Alice herself, the mad Queen of Hearts, "It is time to die." And be at peace. The unspoken words hung in the emptiness, even as lightsabers cracked open from the walls to strike down at the Queen of Hearts. Beneath the flesh, beneath the blood, hidden by the sense of Guilt and Grief for all those sacrificed for the Greater Good, all of the lightsabers symbolizing the fallen Jedi came down like a torrential flood of ignited plasma.
As a thousand and a thousand more struck through every pore of skin available on the woman's surface, Ahsoka looked sadly on.
"It's time I go..." Alice whispered. "Time I wake up."
The Force rippled at its very seams, and broke apart the mad Queen of Hearts, leaving nothing behind but dust. Dust, and what looked like a family picture that swiftly disappeared from Ahsoka's sight to end in her Master's hands. He looked at it with a sad expression, and then sighed, shaking his head as he moved towards the altar to drop it off.
"Do you know why," her Master said as he turned to look at her, "I picked Alice in Wonderland?" he began to near her, as Mister Fluffles dropped from the side of the wall, now sporting a slightly bulkier build, four arms like those of the Cheshire Cat at its side.
"Master," Ahsoka replied with a light chuckle. "I think that's because you're mad, and everyone was mad in the book."
Her Master chuckled back. "Probably," he acquiesced. "I do so hate...well, more like dislike, the Force's shenanigans. Still, I heard something about being needed by the Jedi High Council?"
Ahsoka frowned. Her master was trying to change the conversation into a direction he preferred -but she wasn't going to stand for it, not now that she had a thousand more questions to ask about-
A Force flick hit her forehead, and she winced as she rubbed it. "Later," he said. "Not now, padawan," he whispered. "I promise that soon, I'll answer all of your questions. Until then, let's take our leave from this place," he continued as he put a hand on her shoulder and made her gently turn to leave behind the church, the church that now felt terribly familiar to Ahsoka, as if she had been in there more than once, and not always for happy occasions.
The doors of the church opened on the outside to a neat cobblestone square, a place of rock, and masonry. The ground broke around them as they began to walk on a road surrounded in the darkness, out of the meditation, and into the reality of the situation.
Ahsoka's eyes slowly opened to her Master's meditation chambers door. Only, she was on the other side of them, and she was resting her head on her master's lap. He gently patted her forehead.
"Time to wake up, Ahsoka," he whispered.
She stretched and stood up, looking at the sand and the rocks around them, at peace. Having no desire to alter the sand pattern on the ground, Ahsoka carefully used the force to levitate her body gently as if she were lifting a lightsaber, in order to pass without leaving behind any sign. She actually succeeded on the first try. No, she succeeded because she knew what she had to do, and she knew, because the Bond with her Master had grown further.
His power was now flowing through her too. His strength, his will, his knowledge was but a question away. Yet she would not ask.
She had to conquer Curiosity after all, and so, she would not ask.
Her Master grinned at her as he stepped by her side without touching the sand pattern either.
"Padawans," he said with a chuckle, "They learn and grow up so fast."
"I'm the best," Ahsoka nodded with a thin smudge of pride in her voice. "Ain't I the best?"
"Careful not to get too prideful," her Master pointed out. "Now let's go report to the Council of how Aurra Sing and her merry gang of mercenaries won't harm anyone else ever again," he acquiesced. "And of who made sure they slipped in during the confusion." He sighed and looked at her. "For what it matters, Ahsoka," he said as he began to walk towards the Jedi High Council, with her following his side. "I am sorry."
Ahsoka shrugged and grinned. "Doesn't matter, Master." She blinked the next moment, "Oh, right, I was nearly forgetting something very important," she added. "You remember...when you said you picked me because you were sure I'd always do the right thing?"
"Yes," her Master replied, already dreading her answer.
"Well, I think the right thing is for me to keep being your Padawan until the Council takes the Force away from you," Ahsoka said, "And after that happens, then I'll just have to ask Master Kenobi if he's in need of a new Padawan learner. Knight Skywalker won't be knight for much longer, will he?"
"And how do you know that?" her Master remarked.
"Because that's your hope, isn't it? You care," Ahsoka said with a bright, bubbly grin. "You care a lot, maybe too much, but you care. We all get it. All of us, you know," she chuckled as they passed by Ferus, who had just so casually been on the way to the other side of the Temple, and Knight Darra, who was accompanying him. By happenstance, they crossed Anakin Skywalker and Master Kenobi, and on the way, more than a couple of Younglings and awestruck Padawans had some important business to do near them. It was a silent form of support.
Her Master sighed. He rolled his eyes. "No attachments is kind-of a very important rule, Ahsoka."
"Then I promise I won't go on a rampage if you go away, or die," Ahsoka chuckled. "What is the term? Uhm...'Yandere'?"
Her Master visibly recoiled as if struck. "Maybe it was a bad idea to-"
"No, no," Ahsoka giggled. "I like it. There's so much...woah, is this how you see the world, Master? It's-" and suddenly it was cut off. "Hey!" she pouted.
"Curiosity, Ahsoka," her Master chided her as he neared the doors to the Jedi High Council. "Curiosity killed the Togruta."
And then he stepped inside, leaving her to wait outside with an unspoken gesture.
Ahsoka turned her back to the doors and stretched with her hands behind her back, a bright grin on her face, just like that of the Cheshire Cat.
All was right in the world, and in the galaxy, and the dark clouds of the day before had disappeared once more to leave place to the sun.
She wondered however, she wondered all the same...
Whom did Master Shade not kill, that could have avoided this all war from beginning?
And what reason could there be, worse than this war, to force him to pick this war over peace?
Still, whatever reason there could be, she'd discover it.
She'd discover it, and then, together with her Master, she'd face it as his Padawan.
Unless she became a Knight.
In which case, she'd face it like a Knight by his side.
Maybe he'd play the role of the Princess captured by the evil dragon?
She chuckled at the mental image.
Her Master wearing a princess dress and being locked atop a high tower waiting to be saved...and annoying the dragon to no end.
Why pick the war over peace? Because the consequences of unbroken peace are so much worse...
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
A Jedi therapist must be the most hardcore BAMF in reality.
Heh. Scary and heartwarming all at once. this was a lovely look at the resulting stress of knowing spoilers would have on any self insert: his madness is more than just a character quirk, it's a coping mechanism. Shade calling Ahsoka a 'Disney Princess' and his 'Queen-Alice' doing the same is a lovely metaphor for us: distaste at the happy ending narratives, and knowledge of their naivete... and the desire for at least some truth in those concepts, that goodness shouldn't be a weakness.
As Ahsoka put it best: they know he's not evil, because he cares. Caring is dangerous, but it's not wrong. It's what makes letting go of the guilt so hard, and in this case, violent. It's a battle not to take the law into his own hands, all the time. There are justified reasons for it, but that makes the choice not to kill all the more important. It's one part of why I haven't gotten tired of Ahsoka quoting 'There is no Try': it's a wider concept than just self confidence, and 'do not' can be just as agonizing as 'doing' something. Keeping to his morals, and his ideals, also means accepting that people will die and fade away. That evil will strike terrible blows.
That dragging someone back from the dead and torturing them, as he hinted at in the last chapter, might be justified... but is something he shouldn't do, for just as valid of reasons. that choosing not to is quite important. Yoda was right that a jedi once fallen can't come back... as we see with Shade, his fall is still something he's struggling with. Falling is permanent, even if you do nothing but good for the rest of your days, it doesn't change what you did. Not that one can't fall and still do good, or come back... but sometimes, it's good to know what you can and can't do. It's why Shade's decision to accept force severing after the war is so meaningful: he know's he's teetering on the edge, and truth be told, he's pretty sure he can't keep from falling completely forever. Better he do this work and put down his weapons, force and saber, before he goes too far.
Of course, there's a hint that killing Palpatine before the war started might actually have been worse than the war itself. Shade has shown that he knows there's problems with the Republic itself. Ahsoka might not know who the 'One Sith' is... but I get the feeling that Shade not killing Palpatine right off the bat was for reasons other than 'Don't fall to the Dark Side'. Shade took Yoda's teachings seriously, and though we're only seeing things through Ahsoka's point of view, the war has gone OFF THE RAILS. The Jedi Masters, or at least Yoda, HAS to know something spoilery, and all these references have to be hinting that 'something' is in the works, personal struggles of Ahsoka and Shade regardless.
Lastly, it's REALLY heartwarming, worrying, and silly that Ahsoka is starting to understand her masters 'tropish, internetty, forum geek' point of view... she's really catching his madness. and it seems, a bit of his carefree attitude. not that things are less serious, but that being too serious isn't always the best choice. Humor is another form of self confidence.
As Ahsoka put it best: they know he's not evil, because he cares. Caring is dangerous, but it's not wrong. It's what makes letting go of the guilt so hard, and in this case, violent. It's a battle not to take the law into his own hands, all the time. There are justified reasons for it, but that makes the choice not to kill all the more important. It's one part of why I haven't gotten tired of Ahsoka quoting 'There is no Try': it's a wider concept than just self confidence, and 'do not' can be just as agonizing as 'doing' something. Keeping to his morals, and his ideals, also means accepting that people will die and fade away. That evil will strike terrible blows.
That dragging someone back from the dead and torturing them, as he hinted at in the last chapter, might be justified... but is something he shouldn't do, for just as valid of reasons. that choosing not to is quite important. Yoda was right that a jedi once fallen can't come back... as we see with Shade, his fall is still something he's struggling with. Falling is permanent, even if you do nothing but good for the rest of your days, it doesn't change what you did. Not that one can't fall and still do good, or come back... but sometimes, it's good to know what you can and can't do. It's why Shade's decision to accept force severing after the war is so meaningful: he know's he's teetering on the edge, and truth be told, he's pretty sure he can't keep from falling completely forever. Better he do this work and put down his weapons, force and saber, before he goes too far.
Of course, there's a hint that killing Palpatine before the war started might actually have been worse than the war itself. Shade has shown that he knows there's problems with the Republic itself. Ahsoka might not know who the 'One Sith' is... but I get the feeling that Shade not killing Palpatine right off the bat was for reasons other than 'Don't fall to the Dark Side'. Shade took Yoda's teachings seriously, and though we're only seeing things through Ahsoka's point of view, the war has gone OFF THE RAILS. The Jedi Masters, or at least Yoda, HAS to know something spoilery, and all these references have to be hinting that 'something' is in the works, personal struggles of Ahsoka and Shade regardless.
Lastly, it's REALLY heartwarming, worrying, and silly that Ahsoka is starting to understand her masters 'tropish, internetty, forum geek' point of view... she's really catching his madness. and it seems, a bit of his carefree attitude. not that things are less serious, but that being too serious isn't always the best choice. Humor is another form of self confidence.
I appear to recall something about an upcoming invasion force...
... or was that Darth Revan's reason for starting a war? Or both?
I'll admit that my Star Wars lore doesn't really go beyond the movies and the SWKotoR games.
Well there are a lot of things waiting around to fuck everything up depending on how much of the EU exists in this fic.
That was Revan's reason, but there's also the Vong who are going to show up in a few decades if they exist in here. And then Abeloth awhile after that along with the Lost Tribe of Sith if they ever get their hands on a ship.
Edit: Oh and the Ssi-ruuk.
Last edited:
The problem that caused the fall of the republic was that there didn't seem to be Any therapist for the past few jedi generations.
"Gooooood Gooooood."
"But satisfaction brought it back."
I want to see Shade and Palpatine in the same room, throwing seemingly disguised insults at one another!
Palpy, while stating that this "Darth Sidious" is a most illusive character, subtly implies that Shade hasn't got the brains to catch him!
Shade, on the other hand, will reply that he believes this "Sith Lord" is a Nabooian who was trained under a rumored practitioner of Dark Side Sorceries, Magister Hego Damask II of the Intergalactic Banking Clan, AKA "Darth Plagueis"! In a manner most enigmatic, Shade is saying, "I'm on your tail JACK-ASS!"
Palpy, while stating that this "Darth Sidious" is a most illusive character, subtly implies that Shade hasn't got the brains to catch him!
Shade, on the other hand, will reply that he believes this "Sith Lord" is a Nabooian who was trained under a rumored practitioner of Dark Side Sorceries, Magister Hego Damask II of the Intergalactic Banking Clan, AKA "Darth Plagueis"! In a manner most enigmatic, Shade is saying, "I'm on your tail JACK-ASS!"
- Location
- Little Rock, AR
Force Bond. They're psychic and seeming aproaching the point where they can twitch and hivemind.
Uxion
The Slightly Less Depressed
- Location
- Personal Hell
Well I know that, but what exactly was she seeing? What is Shade seeing?
- Location
- Little Rock, AR
They're seeing the Memes.
- Location
- theUniverse
wow i am really starting to wonder what is the jedi council thinking of all this. I mean sheade seems to be breaking all the offical and non official rules constantly goes to the dark side and back and yet seems to have Yoda's blessing(I am also now really curious how much Yoda knows) but i guess the suspance is kept becouse we are following one of the least informed charecters as she gets to discover shades secrets one by one but the curiosity is really really nagging me here hope we find out what is going inot the other charecters heads as well maybe a chapter or two from their point of view.
Chapter Twenty-Six
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Twenty-Six
Her Master stepped out of the Jedi High Council chambers in high spirits, and humming made his way towards the Hangar Bay. "We're heading to Senator Amidala's office at the Coruscant Senate, padawan," her Master said. "She can be...peculiarly headstrong," he added. "You'll find a kindred soul without a doubt."
"Have you foreseen it?" Ahsoka remarked dryly. They stepped through the hallways to the Hangars, which were now no longer even sporting the signs of the funeral pyres. They climbed aboard a two-seat speeder, and her Master took the wheel with practiced ease.
"No, I just know the senator," her Master replied. Then they left the hangar and headed straight for the Senate's palace, disregarding all traffic regulations and codes. It wouldn't have been that bad of a thing -if her Master had given gas to the car, which instead was going at a snail pace in her opinion.
"Master, do you want me to drive?" Ahsoka hazarded after what was supposed to be a five minutes rush turned into half an hour, with only half the road done.
"Nope," her Master replied, driving slowly.
"Wait," Ahsoka blinked. "Is it...is it your fear of heights acting up again, Master?"
"And of car crashes," her Master replied. "Flying cars mean there are dangers coming from all three axis, not just the main two."
"They'll dodge out of the way," Ahsoka replied. She huffed at her master's most poignant look of 'Don't be silly, drive safely and is your seat belt properly latched to the seat?' "Just go."
"Patience," her Master replied. "I'm the driver. Let's listen to some music while on the way."
As a small datachip ended up being put inside the radio, a classical symphony soon began to play. "Ugh," Ahsoka grimaced, "What is this?"
Her Master raised an eyebrow. "Classical music of the highest quality," he acquiesced, "Found while scurrying the Net."
Ahsoka brought both hands to the side of her head and stuck her tongue out. "More like audio torture."
"Be thankful it doesn't have vocals, or I'd be singing along," her Master pointed out with a bright grin.
Ahsoka groaned even louder, if it was at all possible.
They sped up once they finally reached the Senate's building, and parked the car in no less than fifteen minutes -Ahsoka had counted them, just to be sure she wasn't actually still in Wonderland and hallucinating it all as a form of teaching about the importance of patience. She jumped out and began to walk back and forth, tapping her foot on the ground as her master locked the car and stepped outside last.
"See?" he remarked with a dry and amused tone, "We have arrived all in one piece."
"One hour and a half later," Ahsoka replied. "Are we late?"
"A Jedi never arrives late, or early," her Master said. "He arrives precisely when he needs to arrive."
Ahsoka lifted an eyebrow. "Quoting Gandalf in an attempt to look wise will not get you anywhere, Master. I read the book in my free time."
"Damnation," her Master replied with a chuckle. "My apprentice is learning all of my tricks. It's only a matter of time before she takes over."
Ahsoka grinned broadly, and then shrugged. "I don't think I'll learn everything you have to teach in a year, so I wouldn't worry about that yet, Master."
With a smile on his face, Master Shade walked through the building with ease, and reached for the floor Senator Amidala's office was. Ahsoka dutifully followed, taking in the sights of the place. When they stepped inside the office, she realized the Senator wasn't alone. A couple of humans, a few Rhodians and also quite the number of species from other planets were present.
"Oh, Jedi Master Shade," Senator Amidala said, "You're early," she added.
Ahsoka's head snapped to where her master was, looking at his amused expression as he basked in her shock, with all probability. "There wasn't much traffic," her Master acquiesced. "Still, I assume I am not disturbing?"
"Not at all, Jedi Master," a broad-shouldered man said with a charming smile. "We are glad you are willing to chaperon such an initiative yourself, especially with the risks attached to it and the recent events-Our condolences go to the Jedi for their losses," he added with a soft voice, his eyes slightly downcast.
"They have become one with the Force," her Master replied kindly, "There is no need to grieve them, for they are at peace now. Hopefully, the Republic will be at peace too, if things go as we expect them to go. It will take time, but an olive branch should work in avoiding more taxes, and nobody wants to pay taxes."
There were a few chuckles. More than a few senators took their leave after a few words of encouragement, and in the end only four persons remained in the room.
"Senator Organa?" her Master asked. "How do you feel?"
Age suddenly seemed to appear on the man's face as he pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down, his expression truly troubled. "It is a risky gamble," he admitted. "Anything could go wrong."
Senator Amidala shook her head. "If the banks are deregulated, the Republic might truly go bankrupt, and then everything will go wrong."
Ahsoka crossed her arms in front of her chest and tapped her right foot. "Pardon me, master...but what is going on, precisely?"
"Right, right, I should have explained," her Master said. "You will be tasked with protecting Senator Amidala while infiltrating Separatist Space, and you will do so using your status as a Jedi to travel to a Neutral world. From there, you will travel to the Separatist home-world and propose a peace treaty. Meanwhile, I'll be keeping an eye on a few corrupted members of the Senate and ensure they do not play any dirty tricks. The only ones who are allowed to know of this mission are the four in this room. There will be no hushed complacent remarks to other people, no informing others ahead of time, no 'I tell you this in friendship' and absolutely not a single word will go out from this very room after we are done here," her Master whispered harshly. "There is a lot at stake, and people without principles will stop at nothing to prevent this peace."
Senator Amidala smiled sadly. "It is horrible that there would be those who prefer to make profit over pain and death," she looked downcast. "But-"
"Wait, wait just a second," Ahsoka looked at her master. "You're sending me to the Separatist Home World together with a Senator!" she blurted out. "After what Dooku did to the temple! After all those that died because of him!"
Her Master nodded. "If I didn't know you could do it, padawan, I wouldn't have even planned for it. You will do an excellent job," he added, and put a gentle hand as a placating gesture on her shoulder, "And you will remember the teachings of the Jedi."
Ahsoka opened her mouth to retort, and then closed it, preferring to glare at him. Her master was the king of hypocrites, and judging by his grin, he knew it too!
Her Master then bowed to Senator Amidala and left together with Senator Organa, leaving her alone with the woman.
"Senator Amidala," Ahsoka began, only for the Senator to interrupt her.
"Please, call me Padme, Jedi." The senator said, and Ahsoka smiled at that.
"Then call me Ahsoka," Ahsoka replied. "So," she continued her previous discussion, "What is the plan?"
Senator Amidala nodded, and began to explain. All things considered, Ahsoka had expected some form of complicate thing involving multiple decoys, thousands of fakes, and a hundred and more contingencies. It turned out to be surprisingly simple. They'd take a shuttle to a neutral world, her with the excuse of a mission alone given to her by her master, and meanwhile the senator would instead take the same shuttle but technically stop first, in order to be present at an important dinner party where, instead, a double of the senator would be.
From the neutral world they'd take a shuttle to Separatist space and once they landed at the spaceport, it would be up to the senator's contacts to pick them up before they got shot. Hopefully, everything would go exactly as intended.
Ahsoka herself was surprised when it all went exactly as planned.
She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, because it all went exactly as planned. Maybe that was the perk of having a master with the gift of foresight: he knew how things would go, and so he wasn't surprised of them going exactly that way.
As Ahsoka kept an eye on Mina Bonteri, the Separatist spearheading the peace effort, she couldn't help but feel elated at the thought that the war would end in part thanks to the efforts of her Master, of Senator Amidala and also, in part, because of her.
Yes, as she happily waved goodbye to Mina Bonteri and her son and stepped inside the shuttle to sit right next to Senator Amidala's seat, she really believed everything would end up perfectly, all would be over soon, and there would be peace.
Then the connection to her Master abruptly cut off, and her breathing came less as it felt as if a hand had clenched her heart and shattered it, pain wracking her entire body as she felt the very filaments of the Force retch and scream for the agony and the deceit, the utterly pulsing void around her making her cry tears of pain.
She gasped as Mister Fluffles screamed shrilly, clutching her to hold her frame at bay from making a public scene. Her hands gripped the handles of the passenger seat, and she felt her vision coming less. Had...had the Jedi cut off the connection to the Force of her Master already? At the mere mention of peace? Had they been so hasty they wouldn't even wait for confirmation? No, that couldn't be. But...
What if her Master had died?
That-No, no, her Master wouldn't have died. He was her Master. Heck, he-he could be caught, so that meant he could be killed, but...but only Dooku would be able to do such a thing, or maybe a Jedi Master, or...no, no, she had to keep calm. Her Master was probably somewhere the Force couldn't reach. That was preposterous. Ahsoka felt stupid even thinking about it.
However, thinking about it kept her mind away from the pain that ran in her body, an from the feeling of utter loss that sank deep in her guts. It was sudden, but when Padme touched her shoulder, probably worried by her state, she just turned and hugged the older woman tightly as if it was the right thing to do.
As if it was the only thing she could do.
She couldn't understand where that unending stream of sadness was coming from, but then again, she couldn't understand what had happened. It had been abrupt. One moment, her Master was there. The next, her Master wasn't there any longer. There was only silence. It felt...empty. She couldn't hold it.
"Ahsoka? Ahsoka speak to me," Senator Amidala said with worry in her voice. "What's going on? Is everything all right?"
"No," Ahsoka whispered, catching her breath. "No," Mister Fluffles meowed, now on her lap and gazing at her sadly. "My Master...he-he's dead."
Padme's eyes widened in disbelief, "W-What? A-Are you sure?" she asked, only for Ahsoka to return a nasty glare to her.
"I felt it in the Force," she hissed. "It was...they took him away," she whispered harsher still, "The sun. My...My Master, my very own sun, he's no longer-he's no longer here." She trembled. "I feel so cold."
"We need to stop at the nearest medic-" Padme began, only for Ahsoka to grip her arm and clench her tight -she knew she was hurting the Senator, but she had no intention of making her go through with her idea.
"No," Ahsoka hissed. "No. We must go back. We must bring peace to the galaxy. It was-it is-it has to be my master's wish. He's not dead. He can't be dead," the Togruta whispered and shook her head. "No, my master wouldn't die, no matter what. He wouldn't-He couldn't. It's got to be a lie and I need to get back and check on him. I...Please."
"Ahsoka," Padme whispered. "Ahsoka, let go." She was afraid. She was afraid and she was hurt. She was afraid and she was hurt, because of her.
Suddenly, Ahsoka dropped the grip on the senator's arm. "I apologize for my outburst," she whispered. She grimaced and looked down at her hands. What would her Master say if he saw her like that?
Let it go~ Let it go~
Yeah, he'd sing something like that to her, and in a heartbeat she'd be snorting at him being utterly tone-deaf, then he'd chuckle warmly just like he was capable of, and she'd feel silly for thinking something stupid or against the Jedi Code. He's tell her not to worry, to just carry on, to not be angry, and then it would just make sense without another word, and she'd be calm. She'd be calm again. The hurt didn't leave her, but now that she was calmer, she could finally try to understand.
It would make no sense for the Jedi Masters to remove the connection from the Force from her master like that, especially not without the peace actually being offered. It would make no sense for her Master to willfully cut the connection himself like that, not without a very good reason -and even then, she doubted he could alone, and unless the entirety of the High Council was in accord with him, it would be just plain impossible to sever the connection. So, her Master had either died, or dropped off somewhere where the Force couldn't reach.
That terrified her. Where could her Master had gone, that he was so utterly outside the Force?
He wouldn't have died without a fight anyway, and if such a fight had happened, it would be on every channel of every corner of the galaxy within the next minutes. Yet, even as Padme watched her warily in fear of maybe another outburst, or maybe in grief sharing her pain, she carefully began to change the channels of the small holoscreen in front of her that the shuttle services provided. There was no news of a Jedi Master's death -and those always arrived on the first page, no matter how far away they were -and since they were still in a neutral area, there were both Separatist and Republic live-news to look at.
"In most recent news," the newscaster suddenly spoke, sending dread to spike all across Ahsoka's montrals and through her back. "The motion for peace has been received with tentative acceptance from the Republic's Senate, and will be discussed next week. Might this finally be the start of the end for such a grievous war? In other news, Count Dooku himself has proclaimed that as an ambassador of good will for the proposal, he will personally travel to Coruscant to meet with the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Chancellor Palpatine was 'pleasantly surprised' by such an offer, and cannot wait for the leader of the Separatists to meet on the grounds of Coruscant."
Padme took a very deep breath at the news, and Ahsoka herself couldn't help but widen her eyes. Count Dooku was willing to show himself into the Senate to make the proposal for peace sound more sincere? It...It certainly was a novel idea.
With the amount of travel they'd have to do however, they'd probably arrive on the same day as Count Dooku would -which meant, they probably wouldn't arrive on time all things included.
Ahsoka clenched her fists. True, her connection to her Master had been cut, but they were in neutral grounds, and she could contact the Jedi High Council.
She began to dial a number on the small holocron in front of her, while Padme remained silent by her side, probably contemplating Count Dooku's latest political stunt, and maybe stunned herself by the boldness of the move. There was only one thing that mattered to Ahsoka however. She had to contact Master Yoda. She had to-
And Master Yoda's figure appeared right there and then, the communication patched through quickly, as if he had been expecting the call.
"Padawan Tano," Yoda said, "Alive and well you are. Of that glad I am."
"M-Master," Ahsoka stammered out. "I-I felt-"
"Your Master, no longer a Jedi is he," Master Yoda acknowledged. "Too strong in him called the pull of the Dark Side. Accept it, he did. Willfully the council he asked."
Ahsoka's breathing hitched. "That bastard piece of s-"
"Padawan," Master Yoda chided her.
"He knew!" Ahsoka whispered furiously. "He sent me away because he knew. He-He knew!"
Master Yoda merely looked back at her, and twitched his long ears. A sad expression appeared on his face. "Tell you this, he did not himself. The closer you were, the Bond the stronger it would be. Away from him, you had to be. This choice he took."
"I want to talk with him," Ahsoka said, a pleading tone in her voice, "Just...just one last time."
"No longer on Coruscant," Master Yoda said calmly, "Is he. Gone away he has."
"Where," Ahsoka said with her breathing hitching up, a hand to cover her mouth.
"He asked me this, to quote you," Master Yoda said with a sigh, shaking his head. "Where I am going, you cannot follow me for now."
Ahsoka remained quiet for a long while, even after Master Yoda bid her a safe return and closed the communication on his side. Ahsoka remained silent, the last words of her Master running through her head like stabs of pain, like daggers slicing her skin and making her soul raw and hurt. It was the ultimate betrayal, and yet the ultimate and most final of lessons. He had told her everything of important he wanted to teach her, and had tested her on everything of important there was in his opinion to test her, and then he had delivered his final goodbye, and he had done so in a way that only she could understand.
"I never would have thought," Padme said, "That he'd do something so sneaky, Ahsoka, I know it hurts-"
"Why would he say that?" Ahsoka said suddenly, catching Padme by surprise. The senator looked at her as if she had grown a second head, and so Ahsoka felt the need to specify. "Why would he say 'for now'? Does this mean that later, I will follow him?" She turned to look at the senator, and her eyes were now no longer sad, but filled with a hint of mischief and a playful fire behind them.
"I...I think I'll be fine now," Ahsoka said as she began to carefully rub Mister Fluffles' head, calmly staring ahead with her vision carefully coming less as she slipped into meditation. "I'm sorry for scaring you," she added in a whisper. "It just...was so sudden, I..."
"It's in moments like these that I'm glad I'm not a Jedi," Padme whispered back. "The things you feel...they are as much of a boon as they are a curse, isn't that right?"
Ahsoka didn't answer her. She just gave back a sad smile. The rest of the trip proceeded in a sort of rigorous, self-imposed silence.
AN: Two chapters, give or take.
Then the Story Ends.
Her Master stepped out of the Jedi High Council chambers in high spirits, and humming made his way towards the Hangar Bay. "We're heading to Senator Amidala's office at the Coruscant Senate, padawan," her Master said. "She can be...peculiarly headstrong," he added. "You'll find a kindred soul without a doubt."
"Have you foreseen it?" Ahsoka remarked dryly. They stepped through the hallways to the Hangars, which were now no longer even sporting the signs of the funeral pyres. They climbed aboard a two-seat speeder, and her Master took the wheel with practiced ease.
"No, I just know the senator," her Master replied. Then they left the hangar and headed straight for the Senate's palace, disregarding all traffic regulations and codes. It wouldn't have been that bad of a thing -if her Master had given gas to the car, which instead was going at a snail pace in her opinion.
"Master, do you want me to drive?" Ahsoka hazarded after what was supposed to be a five minutes rush turned into half an hour, with only half the road done.
"Nope," her Master replied, driving slowly.
"Wait," Ahsoka blinked. "Is it...is it your fear of heights acting up again, Master?"
"And of car crashes," her Master replied. "Flying cars mean there are dangers coming from all three axis, not just the main two."
"They'll dodge out of the way," Ahsoka replied. She huffed at her master's most poignant look of 'Don't be silly, drive safely and is your seat belt properly latched to the seat?' "Just go."
"Patience," her Master replied. "I'm the driver. Let's listen to some music while on the way."
As a small datachip ended up being put inside the radio, a classical symphony soon began to play. "Ugh," Ahsoka grimaced, "What is this?"
Her Master raised an eyebrow. "Classical music of the highest quality," he acquiesced, "Found while scurrying the Net."
Ahsoka brought both hands to the side of her head and stuck her tongue out. "More like audio torture."
"Be thankful it doesn't have vocals, or I'd be singing along," her Master pointed out with a bright grin.
Ahsoka groaned even louder, if it was at all possible.
They sped up once they finally reached the Senate's building, and parked the car in no less than fifteen minutes -Ahsoka had counted them, just to be sure she wasn't actually still in Wonderland and hallucinating it all as a form of teaching about the importance of patience. She jumped out and began to walk back and forth, tapping her foot on the ground as her master locked the car and stepped outside last.
"See?" he remarked with a dry and amused tone, "We have arrived all in one piece."
"One hour and a half later," Ahsoka replied. "Are we late?"
"A Jedi never arrives late, or early," her Master said. "He arrives precisely when he needs to arrive."
Ahsoka lifted an eyebrow. "Quoting Gandalf in an attempt to look wise will not get you anywhere, Master. I read the book in my free time."
"Damnation," her Master replied with a chuckle. "My apprentice is learning all of my tricks. It's only a matter of time before she takes over."
Ahsoka grinned broadly, and then shrugged. "I don't think I'll learn everything you have to teach in a year, so I wouldn't worry about that yet, Master."
With a smile on his face, Master Shade walked through the building with ease, and reached for the floor Senator Amidala's office was. Ahsoka dutifully followed, taking in the sights of the place. When they stepped inside the office, she realized the Senator wasn't alone. A couple of humans, a few Rhodians and also quite the number of species from other planets were present.
"Oh, Jedi Master Shade," Senator Amidala said, "You're early," she added.
Ahsoka's head snapped to where her master was, looking at his amused expression as he basked in her shock, with all probability. "There wasn't much traffic," her Master acquiesced. "Still, I assume I am not disturbing?"
"Not at all, Jedi Master," a broad-shouldered man said with a charming smile. "We are glad you are willing to chaperon such an initiative yourself, especially with the risks attached to it and the recent events-Our condolences go to the Jedi for their losses," he added with a soft voice, his eyes slightly downcast.
"They have become one with the Force," her Master replied kindly, "There is no need to grieve them, for they are at peace now. Hopefully, the Republic will be at peace too, if things go as we expect them to go. It will take time, but an olive branch should work in avoiding more taxes, and nobody wants to pay taxes."
There were a few chuckles. More than a few senators took their leave after a few words of encouragement, and in the end only four persons remained in the room.
"Senator Organa?" her Master asked. "How do you feel?"
Age suddenly seemed to appear on the man's face as he pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down, his expression truly troubled. "It is a risky gamble," he admitted. "Anything could go wrong."
Senator Amidala shook her head. "If the banks are deregulated, the Republic might truly go bankrupt, and then everything will go wrong."
Ahsoka crossed her arms in front of her chest and tapped her right foot. "Pardon me, master...but what is going on, precisely?"
"Right, right, I should have explained," her Master said. "You will be tasked with protecting Senator Amidala while infiltrating Separatist Space, and you will do so using your status as a Jedi to travel to a Neutral world. From there, you will travel to the Separatist home-world and propose a peace treaty. Meanwhile, I'll be keeping an eye on a few corrupted members of the Senate and ensure they do not play any dirty tricks. The only ones who are allowed to know of this mission are the four in this room. There will be no hushed complacent remarks to other people, no informing others ahead of time, no 'I tell you this in friendship' and absolutely not a single word will go out from this very room after we are done here," her Master whispered harshly. "There is a lot at stake, and people without principles will stop at nothing to prevent this peace."
Senator Amidala smiled sadly. "It is horrible that there would be those who prefer to make profit over pain and death," she looked downcast. "But-"
"Wait, wait just a second," Ahsoka looked at her master. "You're sending me to the Separatist Home World together with a Senator!" she blurted out. "After what Dooku did to the temple! After all those that died because of him!"
Her Master nodded. "If I didn't know you could do it, padawan, I wouldn't have even planned for it. You will do an excellent job," he added, and put a gentle hand as a placating gesture on her shoulder, "And you will remember the teachings of the Jedi."
Ahsoka opened her mouth to retort, and then closed it, preferring to glare at him. Her master was the king of hypocrites, and judging by his grin, he knew it too!
Her Master then bowed to Senator Amidala and left together with Senator Organa, leaving her alone with the woman.
"Senator Amidala," Ahsoka began, only for the Senator to interrupt her.
"Please, call me Padme, Jedi." The senator said, and Ahsoka smiled at that.
"Then call me Ahsoka," Ahsoka replied. "So," she continued her previous discussion, "What is the plan?"
Senator Amidala nodded, and began to explain. All things considered, Ahsoka had expected some form of complicate thing involving multiple decoys, thousands of fakes, and a hundred and more contingencies. It turned out to be surprisingly simple. They'd take a shuttle to a neutral world, her with the excuse of a mission alone given to her by her master, and meanwhile the senator would instead take the same shuttle but technically stop first, in order to be present at an important dinner party where, instead, a double of the senator would be.
From the neutral world they'd take a shuttle to Separatist space and once they landed at the spaceport, it would be up to the senator's contacts to pick them up before they got shot. Hopefully, everything would go exactly as intended.
Ahsoka herself was surprised when it all went exactly as planned.
She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, because it all went exactly as planned. Maybe that was the perk of having a master with the gift of foresight: he knew how things would go, and so he wasn't surprised of them going exactly that way.
As Ahsoka kept an eye on Mina Bonteri, the Separatist spearheading the peace effort, she couldn't help but feel elated at the thought that the war would end in part thanks to the efforts of her Master, of Senator Amidala and also, in part, because of her.
Yes, as she happily waved goodbye to Mina Bonteri and her son and stepped inside the shuttle to sit right next to Senator Amidala's seat, she really believed everything would end up perfectly, all would be over soon, and there would be peace.
Then the connection to her Master abruptly cut off, and her breathing came less as it felt as if a hand had clenched her heart and shattered it, pain wracking her entire body as she felt the very filaments of the Force retch and scream for the agony and the deceit, the utterly pulsing void around her making her cry tears of pain.
She gasped as Mister Fluffles screamed shrilly, clutching her to hold her frame at bay from making a public scene. Her hands gripped the handles of the passenger seat, and she felt her vision coming less. Had...had the Jedi cut off the connection to the Force of her Master already? At the mere mention of peace? Had they been so hasty they wouldn't even wait for confirmation? No, that couldn't be. But...
What if her Master had died?
That-No, no, her Master wouldn't have died. He was her Master. Heck, he-he could be caught, so that meant he could be killed, but...but only Dooku would be able to do such a thing, or maybe a Jedi Master, or...no, no, she had to keep calm. Her Master was probably somewhere the Force couldn't reach. That was preposterous. Ahsoka felt stupid even thinking about it.
However, thinking about it kept her mind away from the pain that ran in her body, an from the feeling of utter loss that sank deep in her guts. It was sudden, but when Padme touched her shoulder, probably worried by her state, she just turned and hugged the older woman tightly as if it was the right thing to do.
As if it was the only thing she could do.
She couldn't understand where that unending stream of sadness was coming from, but then again, she couldn't understand what had happened. It had been abrupt. One moment, her Master was there. The next, her Master wasn't there any longer. There was only silence. It felt...empty. She couldn't hold it.
"Ahsoka? Ahsoka speak to me," Senator Amidala said with worry in her voice. "What's going on? Is everything all right?"
"No," Ahsoka whispered, catching her breath. "No," Mister Fluffles meowed, now on her lap and gazing at her sadly. "My Master...he-he's dead."
Padme's eyes widened in disbelief, "W-What? A-Are you sure?" she asked, only for Ahsoka to return a nasty glare to her.
"I felt it in the Force," she hissed. "It was...they took him away," she whispered harsher still, "The sun. My...My Master, my very own sun, he's no longer-he's no longer here." She trembled. "I feel so cold."
"We need to stop at the nearest medic-" Padme began, only for Ahsoka to grip her arm and clench her tight -she knew she was hurting the Senator, but she had no intention of making her go through with her idea.
"No," Ahsoka hissed. "No. We must go back. We must bring peace to the galaxy. It was-it is-it has to be my master's wish. He's not dead. He can't be dead," the Togruta whispered and shook her head. "No, my master wouldn't die, no matter what. He wouldn't-He couldn't. It's got to be a lie and I need to get back and check on him. I...Please."
"Ahsoka," Padme whispered. "Ahsoka, let go." She was afraid. She was afraid and she was hurt. She was afraid and she was hurt, because of her.
Suddenly, Ahsoka dropped the grip on the senator's arm. "I apologize for my outburst," she whispered. She grimaced and looked down at her hands. What would her Master say if he saw her like that?
Let it go~ Let it go~
Yeah, he'd sing something like that to her, and in a heartbeat she'd be snorting at him being utterly tone-deaf, then he'd chuckle warmly just like he was capable of, and she'd feel silly for thinking something stupid or against the Jedi Code. He's tell her not to worry, to just carry on, to not be angry, and then it would just make sense without another word, and she'd be calm. She'd be calm again. The hurt didn't leave her, but now that she was calmer, she could finally try to understand.
It would make no sense for the Jedi Masters to remove the connection from the Force from her master like that, especially not without the peace actually being offered. It would make no sense for her Master to willfully cut the connection himself like that, not without a very good reason -and even then, she doubted he could alone, and unless the entirety of the High Council was in accord with him, it would be just plain impossible to sever the connection. So, her Master had either died, or dropped off somewhere where the Force couldn't reach.
That terrified her. Where could her Master had gone, that he was so utterly outside the Force?
He wouldn't have died without a fight anyway, and if such a fight had happened, it would be on every channel of every corner of the galaxy within the next minutes. Yet, even as Padme watched her warily in fear of maybe another outburst, or maybe in grief sharing her pain, she carefully began to change the channels of the small holoscreen in front of her that the shuttle services provided. There was no news of a Jedi Master's death -and those always arrived on the first page, no matter how far away they were -and since they were still in a neutral area, there were both Separatist and Republic live-news to look at.
"In most recent news," the newscaster suddenly spoke, sending dread to spike all across Ahsoka's montrals and through her back. "The motion for peace has been received with tentative acceptance from the Republic's Senate, and will be discussed next week. Might this finally be the start of the end for such a grievous war? In other news, Count Dooku himself has proclaimed that as an ambassador of good will for the proposal, he will personally travel to Coruscant to meet with the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Chancellor Palpatine was 'pleasantly surprised' by such an offer, and cannot wait for the leader of the Separatists to meet on the grounds of Coruscant."
Padme took a very deep breath at the news, and Ahsoka herself couldn't help but widen her eyes. Count Dooku was willing to show himself into the Senate to make the proposal for peace sound more sincere? It...It certainly was a novel idea.
With the amount of travel they'd have to do however, they'd probably arrive on the same day as Count Dooku would -which meant, they probably wouldn't arrive on time all things included.
Ahsoka clenched her fists. True, her connection to her Master had been cut, but they were in neutral grounds, and she could contact the Jedi High Council.
She began to dial a number on the small holocron in front of her, while Padme remained silent by her side, probably contemplating Count Dooku's latest political stunt, and maybe stunned herself by the boldness of the move. There was only one thing that mattered to Ahsoka however. She had to contact Master Yoda. She had to-
And Master Yoda's figure appeared right there and then, the communication patched through quickly, as if he had been expecting the call.
"Padawan Tano," Yoda said, "Alive and well you are. Of that glad I am."
"M-Master," Ahsoka stammered out. "I-I felt-"
"Your Master, no longer a Jedi is he," Master Yoda acknowledged. "Too strong in him called the pull of the Dark Side. Accept it, he did. Willfully the council he asked."
Ahsoka's breathing hitched. "That bastard piece of s-"
"Padawan," Master Yoda chided her.
"He knew!" Ahsoka whispered furiously. "He sent me away because he knew. He-He knew!"
Master Yoda merely looked back at her, and twitched his long ears. A sad expression appeared on his face. "Tell you this, he did not himself. The closer you were, the Bond the stronger it would be. Away from him, you had to be. This choice he took."
"I want to talk with him," Ahsoka said, a pleading tone in her voice, "Just...just one last time."
"No longer on Coruscant," Master Yoda said calmly, "Is he. Gone away he has."
"Where," Ahsoka said with her breathing hitching up, a hand to cover her mouth.
"He asked me this, to quote you," Master Yoda said with a sigh, shaking his head. "Where I am going, you cannot follow me for now."
Ahsoka remained quiet for a long while, even after Master Yoda bid her a safe return and closed the communication on his side. Ahsoka remained silent, the last words of her Master running through her head like stabs of pain, like daggers slicing her skin and making her soul raw and hurt. It was the ultimate betrayal, and yet the ultimate and most final of lessons. He had told her everything of important he wanted to teach her, and had tested her on everything of important there was in his opinion to test her, and then he had delivered his final goodbye, and he had done so in a way that only she could understand.
"I never would have thought," Padme said, "That he'd do something so sneaky, Ahsoka, I know it hurts-"
"Why would he say that?" Ahsoka said suddenly, catching Padme by surprise. The senator looked at her as if she had grown a second head, and so Ahsoka felt the need to specify. "Why would he say 'for now'? Does this mean that later, I will follow him?" She turned to look at the senator, and her eyes were now no longer sad, but filled with a hint of mischief and a playful fire behind them.
"I...I think I'll be fine now," Ahsoka said as she began to carefully rub Mister Fluffles' head, calmly staring ahead with her vision carefully coming less as she slipped into meditation. "I'm sorry for scaring you," she added in a whisper. "It just...was so sudden, I..."
"It's in moments like these that I'm glad I'm not a Jedi," Padme whispered back. "The things you feel...they are as much of a boon as they are a curse, isn't that right?"
Ahsoka didn't answer her. She just gave back a sad smile. The rest of the trip proceeded in a sort of rigorous, self-imposed silence.
AN: Two chapters, give or take.
Then the Story Ends.
Dragonskyt
Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?
- Location
- Kiln of the First Flame
I am saddened that the story is ending, but I enjoyed the ride nevertheless.
Of course that also means you an treat us to other stories later on. You do realize you spoil us readers too much right?
Of course that also means you an treat us to other stories later on. You do realize you spoil us readers too much right?
Shut up! Then he might STOP spoiling us!
HarakoniWarhawk
Striking from the Skies
- Location
- Holy Terra
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Is it just me or does this line seem eerily like Solaire's when you kill him after he is corrupted by the Sunlight maggot?