Put that down, young man
Dec. 3rd, 2014 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morgynleriNot necessarily postable to AO3, but postable somewhere because it's a vaguely complete thought.
In the case of today, it is a continuation of Mini Nano Day 16 snippets: The "No! Put that down this instant!" edition, in which Anakin from As It All Burns (Incomplete and chaotic AU wherein things are all jumbled post TPM) finds himself in the canon universe just after Mace went out a window and canon!Anakin is kneeling to Sidious. And meanwhile, canon!Obi-Wan wakes up to find Maul is still not dead, and he has a doppleganger.
(Ok, canon-ish, because I have not finished catching up with the canon I'm planning to work from. That is what rewrites are for, if this ever gets past a self-indulgent piece of something.)
Both scenes are direct continuations from their previous.
First Part | Next Part
Anakin lets the Force guide his plummet, grinning at the flashes of shock on the faces of drivers as he drops through traffic lanes. He uses it to cushion his landing, as well, next to figure in familiar robes who is half-leaning against a wall. The Jedi seems to be absent hands, and stinks of electrical discharge, but alive - fallen from the same place Anakin had, he can't help but think.
Clipping his sabers to his belt, Anakin approaches the Jedi carefully. Any of them with sense will be able to feel the hints of Darkness that are as much a part of him as his Force-use, and he doubts they'll be particularly happy about it.
"You're not Skywalker." The Jedi is alive, then, and is watching him with a frown that is more than just pain or confusion.
"My name is Anakin Skywalker, but I'm not from around here." And definitely not the twisted, foolish, lost being who'd knelt to Sidious in the office he'd taken a dive from. "Are you going to throw things at me if I come closer?"
"Not unless you're planning to kill me."
"The Order is full of fools, but they don't de...." Anakin cuts off when he feels a shock-wave of death in the Force, screaming inside his head as thousands died in a single moment.
"No."
He's not sure who the croaking voice came from, falling to his knees as another wave of screaming deaths washes over him. Shaking his head, and struggling to keep breathing steadily as his heart begins to pound with the rage swirling up inside him. He had once wanted to be a Jedi, and he'd never stopped thinking they were some of the best people in the galaxy, fools included. Feeling them die reminds him that he is very much not a Jedi, nor ever was meant to be one.
Drawing in a shuddering breath, he grits his teeth as a third wave comes - less than the previous two, but still vicious and biting - and pushes to his feet through it. He can't go back to the Chancellor's office and turn this Sidious into a corpse the way he had done the Sidious in his own universe. Not yet, not when he doesn't have a good idea of what's happening here.
"Let's get you somewhere safe, Master."
He turns to the Jedi as he speaks, taking a step closer so he can wrap one hand around the man's elbow and pull him to his feet. There's a wariness in the Jedi's gaze that he dismisses, studying the street around them. It's one of the lower levels of Coruscant, though still above the planetary surface.
"How far to the Temple, if it's still in one piece here?"
"It was still standing when I left it earlier." The Jedi sounds worried - and feels dismayed in the Force. Anakin isn't certain if it's whatever caused the wariness earlier, or if it's a reaction to his question. "If the Sith is planning to kill the Jedi, it's not going to be safe for long."
"There are ways in and out below planetary surface. Master Jinn told me about them, though I've never actually seen them." Anakin doesn't relax his grip on the Jedi, feeling the tremble beneath his fingers that comes from more Force-use than the body is accustomed to handling. And from fear, but he doesn't feel that coming from the Jedi. "And once the outer walls and the towers are collapsed over the obvious entries, it'll be safe for months, at least." He pauses. "Unless my alternate here knows more about those underground passages than I do."
"No one's had time to teach Skywalker those tunnels." The Jedi tries to shake him off, moving toward the Temple, his emotions in more turmoil now than a moment ago. "And there isn't any way to collapse part of the Temple without destroying the whole thing."
"Tell the Masters who died to make sure Sidious would never have the Temple that." Anakin keeps pace with the Jedi, though he wants to run, to move faster. "Do you have any way to warn them about trouble coming?"
"My communicator broke when I landed, and I doubt the Chancellor is going to leave any frequencies open."
Drawing another deep breath, Anakin shakes his head. "He wouldn't, not with as much warning as he got. Didn't anyone have the sense to even ask Maul who taught him?"
"Who?"
Anakin stops abruptly, dragging the Jedi to a halt with him. "Maul. The Zabrak Sith Lord on Naboo during the blockade. The one who tried to kill Obi-Wan, and Master Jinn."
"Obi-Wan killed the Sith on Naboo after he killed Qui-Gon." The Jedi is staring at him with an expression that's as blank as a mask, and his presence in the Force is quieter now, as if a wall has been slammed up. "At least he thought he did. There's been reports that suggest that wasn't quite true."
Anakin stares, struggling to keep his emotions under control, and only vaguely aware his fingers have gone slack on the Jedi's elbow. "Maul was never captured and brought to the Temple?"
"No."
Taking a step back, Anakin lets go of the Jedi, running his hand through his hair instead. Trying to keep his breathing under control even as his heart pounds.
"And Master Jinn is dead."
"Yes." The Jedi is watching him with the wariness creeping back into his Force-presence again, trickling out from beneath his shields as if he doesn't have the strength to keep them up.
"Who taught my alternate?" He can only hope it was Obi-Wan, but without Maul to balance him, to keep prodding Anakin about his feelings, Anakin doesn't know how he could have managed. He's not sure how his own Obi-Wan and Maul didn't decide to kill him and deal with Sidious themselves, some days. He's not a nice person, and he's not an easy person, even when he's aware of it.
"Obi-Wan."
"Alone." He shakes his head. "How did he manage not to lose my alternate to the Sith sooner?" Shaking his head again, he doesn't wait for an answer, catching the Jedi's elbow again and walking toward the Temple faster. "Tell me later."
"Where am I?" Obi-Wan rolls to the edge of the bed he's in, sitting with his bare feet on the cool floor, wondering for a moment where his boots have gone before dismissing that as a less important consideration.
"I don't think this planet has a name anymore." His doppleganger shrugs, leaning against the column between the arches, the amusement and smile not fading. "Though Anakin has a habit of calling it the better end of the galaxy."
The Sith snorts, his lip curling in what might be disdain or might be derision. Obi-Wan has never tried to figure out what the expressions of the demon might be. "The boy despises sand and heat."
"He spent most of his first decade on Tantooine. Can you blame him?" The doppleganger chuckles and shakes his head. "Don't answer that; of course you can."
How his doppleganger can be so at ease with the Sith, Obi-Wan isn't certain, but it makes him wish he had his lightsaber, rather than it being absent. "Who are you?"
"I would think you'd recognize me, at least, since you bear my face." His double lifts a hand in a brief gesture in the general direction of the Sith. "And you know who he is, of that much I'm certain. You wouldn't have reacted so... abruptly to his voice if you didn't."
"I never bothered to ask his name." Obi-Wan glares at the Sith, contemplating killing him without the benefit of a lightsaber. It wouldn't endear him to the High Council, but at the moment, he's not sure if he cares.
"Maul." The Sith smiles sharply before glancing at Obi-Wan's double. "He's your problem."
"Only if you make sure our guests are aware the unexpected addition to the party is awake."
First Part | Next Part
In the case of today, it is a continuation of Mini Nano Day 16 snippets: The "No! Put that down this instant!" edition, in which Anakin from As It All Burns (Incomplete and chaotic AU wherein things are all jumbled post TPM) finds himself in the canon universe just after Mace went out a window and canon!Anakin is kneeling to Sidious. And meanwhile, canon!Obi-Wan wakes up to find Maul is still not dead, and he has a doppleganger.
(Ok, canon-ish, because I have not finished catching up with the canon I'm planning to work from. That is what rewrites are for, if this ever gets past a self-indulgent piece of something.)
Both scenes are direct continuations from their previous.
First Part | Next Part
Anakin lets the Force guide his plummet, grinning at the flashes of shock on the faces of drivers as he drops through traffic lanes. He uses it to cushion his landing, as well, next to figure in familiar robes who is half-leaning against a wall. The Jedi seems to be absent hands, and stinks of electrical discharge, but alive - fallen from the same place Anakin had, he can't help but think.
Clipping his sabers to his belt, Anakin approaches the Jedi carefully. Any of them with sense will be able to feel the hints of Darkness that are as much a part of him as his Force-use, and he doubts they'll be particularly happy about it.
"You're not Skywalker." The Jedi is alive, then, and is watching him with a frown that is more than just pain or confusion.
"My name is Anakin Skywalker, but I'm not from around here." And definitely not the twisted, foolish, lost being who'd knelt to Sidious in the office he'd taken a dive from. "Are you going to throw things at me if I come closer?"
"Not unless you're planning to kill me."
"The Order is full of fools, but they don't de...." Anakin cuts off when he feels a shock-wave of death in the Force, screaming inside his head as thousands died in a single moment.
"No."
He's not sure who the croaking voice came from, falling to his knees as another wave of screaming deaths washes over him. Shaking his head, and struggling to keep breathing steadily as his heart begins to pound with the rage swirling up inside him. He had once wanted to be a Jedi, and he'd never stopped thinking they were some of the best people in the galaxy, fools included. Feeling them die reminds him that he is very much not a Jedi, nor ever was meant to be one.
Drawing in a shuddering breath, he grits his teeth as a third wave comes - less than the previous two, but still vicious and biting - and pushes to his feet through it. He can't go back to the Chancellor's office and turn this Sidious into a corpse the way he had done the Sidious in his own universe. Not yet, not when he doesn't have a good idea of what's happening here.
"Let's get you somewhere safe, Master."
He turns to the Jedi as he speaks, taking a step closer so he can wrap one hand around the man's elbow and pull him to his feet. There's a wariness in the Jedi's gaze that he dismisses, studying the street around them. It's one of the lower levels of Coruscant, though still above the planetary surface.
"How far to the Temple, if it's still in one piece here?"
"It was still standing when I left it earlier." The Jedi sounds worried - and feels dismayed in the Force. Anakin isn't certain if it's whatever caused the wariness earlier, or if it's a reaction to his question. "If the Sith is planning to kill the Jedi, it's not going to be safe for long."
"There are ways in and out below planetary surface. Master Jinn told me about them, though I've never actually seen them." Anakin doesn't relax his grip on the Jedi, feeling the tremble beneath his fingers that comes from more Force-use than the body is accustomed to handling. And from fear, but he doesn't feel that coming from the Jedi. "And once the outer walls and the towers are collapsed over the obvious entries, it'll be safe for months, at least." He pauses. "Unless my alternate here knows more about those underground passages than I do."
"No one's had time to teach Skywalker those tunnels." The Jedi tries to shake him off, moving toward the Temple, his emotions in more turmoil now than a moment ago. "And there isn't any way to collapse part of the Temple without destroying the whole thing."
"Tell the Masters who died to make sure Sidious would never have the Temple that." Anakin keeps pace with the Jedi, though he wants to run, to move faster. "Do you have any way to warn them about trouble coming?"
"My communicator broke when I landed, and I doubt the Chancellor is going to leave any frequencies open."
Drawing another deep breath, Anakin shakes his head. "He wouldn't, not with as much warning as he got. Didn't anyone have the sense to even ask Maul who taught him?"
"Who?"
Anakin stops abruptly, dragging the Jedi to a halt with him. "Maul. The Zabrak Sith Lord on Naboo during the blockade. The one who tried to kill Obi-Wan, and Master Jinn."
"Obi-Wan killed the Sith on Naboo after he killed Qui-Gon." The Jedi is staring at him with an expression that's as blank as a mask, and his presence in the Force is quieter now, as if a wall has been slammed up. "At least he thought he did. There's been reports that suggest that wasn't quite true."
Anakin stares, struggling to keep his emotions under control, and only vaguely aware his fingers have gone slack on the Jedi's elbow. "Maul was never captured and brought to the Temple?"
"No."
Taking a step back, Anakin lets go of the Jedi, running his hand through his hair instead. Trying to keep his breathing under control even as his heart pounds.
"And Master Jinn is dead."
"Yes." The Jedi is watching him with the wariness creeping back into his Force-presence again, trickling out from beneath his shields as if he doesn't have the strength to keep them up.
"Who taught my alternate?" He can only hope it was Obi-Wan, but without Maul to balance him, to keep prodding Anakin about his feelings, Anakin doesn't know how he could have managed. He's not sure how his own Obi-Wan and Maul didn't decide to kill him and deal with Sidious themselves, some days. He's not a nice person, and he's not an easy person, even when he's aware of it.
"Obi-Wan."
"Alone." He shakes his head. "How did he manage not to lose my alternate to the Sith sooner?" Shaking his head again, he doesn't wait for an answer, catching the Jedi's elbow again and walking toward the Temple faster. "Tell me later."
"Where am I?" Obi-Wan rolls to the edge of the bed he's in, sitting with his bare feet on the cool floor, wondering for a moment where his boots have gone before dismissing that as a less important consideration.
"I don't think this planet has a name anymore." His doppleganger shrugs, leaning against the column between the arches, the amusement and smile not fading. "Though Anakin has a habit of calling it the better end of the galaxy."
The Sith snorts, his lip curling in what might be disdain or might be derision. Obi-Wan has never tried to figure out what the expressions of the demon might be. "The boy despises sand and heat."
"He spent most of his first decade on Tantooine. Can you blame him?" The doppleganger chuckles and shakes his head. "Don't answer that; of course you can."
How his doppleganger can be so at ease with the Sith, Obi-Wan isn't certain, but it makes him wish he had his lightsaber, rather than it being absent. "Who are you?"
"I would think you'd recognize me, at least, since you bear my face." His double lifts a hand in a brief gesture in the general direction of the Sith. "And you know who he is, of that much I'm certain. You wouldn't have reacted so... abruptly to his voice if you didn't."
"I never bothered to ask his name." Obi-Wan glares at the Sith, contemplating killing him without the benefit of a lightsaber. It wouldn't endear him to the High Council, but at the moment, he's not sure if he cares.
"Maul." The Sith smiles sharply before glancing at Obi-Wan's double. "He's your problem."
"Only if you make sure our guests are aware the unexpected addition to the party is awake."
First Part | Next Part
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Date: 2014-12-05 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-12-05 07:47 pm (UTC)