Mortis
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-/\/\/-
i\/\never/\/\/you
you/\/not\/\esca/\/fate/\/
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who\/\else/\/here
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Ah, so that is where you are.
Ciaran snapped awake and reflexively shot upwards, moving to grab her lightfoil only for her hand to be grabbed by Obi-Wan.
"I see that you're back with us," the Jedi dryly noted, letting go of Ciaran's hand as she shook her head and glanced around, trying to process the situation. "Where-"
"A Jedi shuttle leaving the planet," Obi-Wan calmly explained, "and after we do return to Republic space-" Before he could go on further, Ciaran sensed the Son's presence appear within the ship.
"-did you hear what I just said?" Obi-Wan said, annoyed. "You're going to have to-"
"Whatever it is can wait," Ciaran said, fighting to stay calm. "The Son is on board the ship, we need to-"
Before Ciaran could finish, she and Obi-Wan heard the sound of Ahsoka screaming, and the two of them quickly joined up with an equally worried Anakin as they ran towards the rear of the ship. They arrived to see the Son holding an unconscious Ahsoka as the bay door opened behind him.
"I do apologize for this, but this young Jedi cannot leave just yet," the Son said with barely contained malice in his voice. As he looked over the three people in front of him his eyes rested on Ciaran. "Ah, and it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person at last, Miss Mystery Guest. While I do wish I could become better acquainted with you," he said with clearly false magnanimity as the door finished opening behind him, "I am afraid I must bid you and your companions farewell for the time being." With those words he shifted into his gargoyle form, and began to fly away with Ahsoka held in his talons as the shuttle's doors slammed shut.
Without a word, Anakin turned and ran back to the ship's cockpit with Ciaran and Obi-Wan close on his heels. Without a word, he slammed into the pilot's seat, throwing the shuttle around so he could give chase to the Son. Even as the Son began to lose altitude and managed to gain distance Anakin was uncaring of the situation, maneuvering the shuttle to maintain his pursuit.
"You're going to get us killed," Obi-Wan said nervously as Anakin nearly clipped a mountainside.
"It'll be fine."
"Anakin," Ciaran said with an air of obviously forced calmness, "maybe we should consider gaining some altitude instead of trying to fly through a-" Before she could finish, Anakin ended up scraping a mountaintop, causing Obi-Wan and Ciaran to stumble briefly.
What I wouldn't give for Asajj to be-actually she'd probably be nearly colliding with mountains too now that I think about it, Ciaran thought to herself with a grim smile as the chase continued.
"Rocks," Obi-Wan said flatly as the Son flew through a group of floating rocks that were too tightly packed for the shuttle to go through.
"I see them."
"Then go around them."
"Define 'go around them,'" Anakin said as he quickly threw a switch that caused the shuttle's wings to fold upwards before throwing it into a hard turn, managing to dodge the floating rocks but at the same time clipping a mountaintop, causing the shuttle to shake violently.
"Are we going to die?" Ciaran asked with calmness that surprised herself even as alarms were blaring from the pilot's console. "Because I feel like we're about to die."
"No, but I'd still brace for impact," Anakin replied as he wrestled with the controls, managing to maintain some control over the shuttle's descent as it lost altitude, finally scraping across the ground and skidding to a violent halt as Ciaran breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Not exactly your best-" but whatever Obi-Wan was going to say was cut off as Anakin stormed past him without a word. Obi-Wan and Ciaran quickly moved after him as he began to lower the shuttle's landing ramp. "Anakin, wait one moment-"
"We have to get Ahsoka back now," Anakin declared in a tone that brooked no argument as the ramp lowered. "If we wait, who knows what the Son could do to her."
"I understand that," Obi-Wan replied as he, Anakin, and Ciaran made their way out of the ship, "but he's hardly an ordinary opponent and we have to consider Lady Ciaran's safety as well."
"I can take care of myself," Ciaran huffed as Obi-Wan looked at her with visible concern. "That's not what I'm worried about," he responded. "He expressed a personal interest in you just before he left, and I don't think either of us want to know why."
Ciaran shuddered slightly, but then shook her head. "Be that as it may I'm inclined to agree with Anakin; who knows what he's capable of doing given enough time with Ahsoka?"
"Which is why we need to go now," Anakin declared, beginning to move in the direction the Son was flying towards.
"We should get the Father's help. He'd surely be willing to help us, even after your...thorough...rejection of his offer."
Anakin stopped in place, shook his head, and turned back to look at Obi-Wan directly. "From my understanding the Father could barely control the Son already, and you and I both know that I can overcome him."
"It would be foolish to just ignore the chance to gain allies in this matter, especially such powerful ones," Obi-Wan replied. "Even if the Father is as weak as you believe him to be he is still magnitudes more powerful than Ciaran or I."
"I'm not inclined to disagree with that assessment," Ciaran noted, "but I'm also inclined to agree with Anakin in that the Father might not be able to help as much as you think he can. We might end up wasting too much time trying to persuade him to act, assuming he even can."
"I'm going after Ahsoka no matter what," Anakin declared. "If you think the Father can help, that's fine, but I'm not going with you."
Obi-Wan contemplated the situation at hand, then nodded to himself. "Very well then. Lady Ciaran?"
father
"I'll be going with Obi-Wan," Ciaran replied, nodding to Anakin. "Good luck."
"You too," he replied as he started to quickly follow the Son's trail, with Ciaran and Obi-Wan moving towards the monastery. "You know, I appreciate you going out of your way to escort a defenseless maiden, Obi-Wan~" Ciaran said in an overly sweet tone.
"'Defenseless' is not a word I'd apply to you in the situation," Obi-Wan fired back as Ciaran raised an eyebrow at that.
"Well I appreciate your confidence but-"
"If what he said was correct, you managed to evade the detection of a being that is a physical embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force, despite the fact that he was able to effortlessly zero in on my and Ahsoka's location without issue yesterday," Obi-Wan flatly replied without breaking stride. "I will not deny it, that takes...talent," he said, suddenly stopping and rounding on Ciaran.
"And the point of that is...?"
"Well, I was wondering how such a respected humanitarian and celebrity could hide herself from a Force entity like the Son, or where she even learned to do that to begin with," Obi-Wan said as his eyes narrowed. "Though in the end, two important questions come to mind: how long have you been doing that for and what have you been hiding?"
Ciaran's face was impassive. "Well, what do you think I've been hiding?"
"Don't change the subject."
"Oh no, that question is quite relevant," Ciaran coldly replied. "You are aware that two of the main leaders of the Separatists are Sith, right? The kind of people that will stab you in the back for looking at them funny? And I'm sure you remember how I nearly died to an assassination attempt a few years ago." Obi-Wan didn't seem to react, letting Ciaran continue. "So with all that in mind I decided that being 'an ordinary being' wasn't going to be good enough to keep me safe. I need to be stronger, to be able to protect myself in ways any potential enemies would never see coming."
Ciaran reached out with the Force to grab some nearby stones, rotating them around her left hand for emphasis. "And I realized that the best way for me to do that would be for me to become stronger in the Force. But as I got stronger, I knew there would be people who would question me at best - like you are right now -" she said, then let the stones drop to the ground for effect, "or at worst try and have me killed, this time using far more thorough measures than neurotoxins sent through ventilation shafts. So I learned how to hide it. To appear as though I was weak in the ways of the Force and uninterested in learning about it further so that I wouldn't be targeted. Does that answer your question?"
Obi-Wan folded his arms. "You realize I can't just ignore this. Not to mention your presence here, which is suspicious in and of itself."
With that Ciaran sighed and pinched her brow in annoyance. "Okay. Okay. Let me make something very clear-"
"Perhaps I should clarify," Obi-Wan said, holding up a hand. "Anakin told me that you used an escape pod just to make sure that you made it here, even though any sane being would never do such a thing of their own free will." He began to rub his forehead as Ciaran looked at him with confusion. "Much to my bafflement, and admittedly slight terror, there is undoubtedly something more that brought you here, something that you were willing to risk your life for. That is what truly concerns me right now. So let me make this as clear as I can:
Why are you here?"
Ciaran went silent at that, closing her eyes for a brief moment.
darkness
"...Something terrible is going to happen to Anakin very soon. I'm not entirely certain what it might be, but..."
"And that's worth risking your life for?" Obi-Wan said, legitimately confused. "You didn't strike me as being that close to Anakin."
"You're partly right. For starters: tell me who is Anakin's closest female friend."
Obi-Wan's face fell slightly, though he maintained his composure. "I find it hard to believe that it's just about Padme."
"Good, because you're right. My real worry comes from the fact that your former Padawan is very strong in the Force. Let me explain," Ciaran said as Obi-Wan started to ask a question. "I've studied my fair share of the galaxy's history and a part of it that I keep seeing is that great changes in the galaxy often tend to result from the actions of singular powerful and passionate Force users, whether they're Jedi or Sith. Look at Exar Kun, who launched one of the most destructive wars the galaxy has ever seen after he fell to the dark side. Or better yet, look at Revan, who nearly tore the galaxy apart as a Sith Lord then helped to make it whole once again as a Jedi."
"Indeed. Yet so many would rather believe those events do not concern them, even as their echoes continue to shape the galaxy."
"Even looking at Anakin right now, I can tell you that he's already making an impact on the galaxy. He's becoming a hero, someone for people to look up to as what a Jedi should be like. Fearless. Heroic in the face of impossible odds." Ciaran sighed. "I don't know what he's going to do in the future, that's his choice. But I'm positive that if it's just ignored it's only going to make things much worse."
Obi-Wan was expressionless as Ciaran finished. "So. Do you trust me?"
"...Not entirely," Obi-Wan replied, "but if what you're saying is even partly true..." he trailed off.
"Then we don't have time for this," Ciaran flatly declared as she began to storm off in the direction of the Father's monastery. "We need to get to the Father as fast as we possibly can."
-------
"So," Ciaran said as she and Obi-Wan approached the monastery, "how exactly are we going to convince the Father to help us?"
"We ask politely."
"Is-will that work? I mean I heard something about Anakin rejecting something or other and it sounded like it was not a polite rejection."
Obi-Wan sighed resignedly. "Yes, well, he may have said some...shall we say unkind things about the Father's methods and reasons for bringing us here."
"Oh is that all?"
"Still, the Father was willing to let us-"
Before Obi-Wan could finish his sentence, the two of them saw the Son roar past them in his gargoyle form, kicking up dust behind him as he flew off.
Ciaran blinked. "What in the-"
Suddenly, the two noticed the Father's body tumbling down the stairs of the entrance to the Monastery. Ciaran and Obi-Wan were dumbstruck for a moment, then the two of the ran forwards to catch the old man before he impacted the ground, managing to stop him just a few steps above it.
"So," Ciaran commented, "I feel like we might have missed something just now."
"Father!"
Without even stopping to acknowledge Ciaran and Obi-Wan, the Daughter rushed to the Father's side, cradling his body. She breathed in slightly, then looked at Obi-Wan and Ciaran in turn.
"He still lives, but he needs to recover. Could you help me move him to a place where he can rest?"
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"Sooooo," Ciaran drawled out as she glanced at Obi-Wan, the two of them standing just outside the room the Father was placed in. "Do we have a plan B, Obi-Wan?"
"If we can't get the Father's help, the Daughter would still be a powerful ally."
"Fool. That thing will never overcome her base nature."
"I disagree," Ciaran flatly said as Obi-Wan looked at her suspiciously. "Think about it: She is the embodiment of the Light Side, and the Son is the embodiment of the Dark Side, and it is literally a core part of their beings for them to come into conflict with each other," she hissed out. "Do you seriously expect her to handle this rationally!?"
Before Obi-Wan could retort, the door opened, and the Daughter slowly walked out with a pained expression on her face. "I...apologize for my brother's actions. It is in his nature to rebel against our Father's authority."
Ciaran managed to suppress the urge to shoot Obi-Wan a glare as he started to speak. "We came here because the Son has kidnapped one of our friends and we needed the Father's help. Perhaps you would be willing to help us instead?"
The Daughter closed her eyes in thought for a moment, then nodded to herself and looked at Obi-Wan. "...I do not know what he has planned for your friend, but it's clear to me that he must be stopped lest he unbalance the Force and bring doom to the galaxy."
"You do realize that he's not just going to stop if we ask nicely, right?" Ciaran snarked. "I don't think he cares about the consequences of his actions in the slightest."
The Daughter looked at Ciaran meaningfully for a moment before sighing resignedly. "...Much as it pains me to admit it, you are right," she quietly replied. "In fact...I dearly hope that it does not come to pass, but...
You may need to help me strike him down if he goes too far."
Her voice was clearly pained, but Ciaran's blood still ran cold as she processed her declaration. Did she not hear the words that came out of her mouth just now!? Does she have any idea of what the consequences of that could be!?
"Of course not. She is too shortsighted to see beyond her petty conflict with the Son."
Despite her concerns, Ciaran remained impassive as Obi-Wan replied. "How exactly can we help you do that? I'm sure you're aware of how easily he would be able to beat either of us in a fight."
The Daughter sighed sadly. "There is an altar on this planet that I can take the both of you to. It contains a weapon that will help us defeat my brother."
dagger
"We must hurry." the Daughter said, quickly moving away as Obi-Wan closely followed her and Ciaran warily trailed behind them.
Blast...how did I get myself into this mess?
AN: Why does writer's block and RL keep me from releasing these sooner. Whyyyyyyy.
Good news is that I think at this point I can safely say that there are only two parts left. Also a side-note, I love how the context of what's happening here changes so dramatically when the primary PoV is Ciaran instead of Anakin/Obi-Wan.
Again, sososososo sorry this is taking so long to write, but as it turns out writing this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Hopefully you guys are enjoying yourselves though.
Edit: Slightly reworked things after checking up on the canon material. Carry on.
