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ladyofleithianDisclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: Hoping that this doesn't come off as rushed or anything. Also, yes, I'll admit I included a few Doctor Who references in this chapter. One's from the TV Movie with Paul McGann, when the Doctor is confronting the Master. I just thought it was a great quote. :3
If Obi-Wan had, long ago, had a vision that he would be standing near the ledge at 500 Republica, looking down at the street where one of his closest friends on the Council had plummeted to his death, if only because of something he had done, he never would have believed it. And yet here he was, dizziness overtaking him as if he was about to fall from the window itself. He backed away from the ledge, collapsed in a close chair, placing a palm wearily over his forehead rubbing it. I’m sorry, Mace. I’m so sorry. And yet even now, murmuring the words again and again to himself barely did justice to what he had done.
“You are fulfilling your destiny.” If Sidious ever meant for any of the words he said right now to be soothing, he failed miserably.
“Destiny? Tell me, Chancellor -- did my destiny include, anywhere, having to aid and abet the murder of a fellow Council member?”
“The Jedi were traitors. You know this.”
“From your point of view.”
Sidious merely looked at him, looked at him with that horrible, Dark Side ravaged face, with eyes that so closely resembled a krayt dragon’s.
“There could have been another way.” Even now, speaking was difficult; it felt like rage and anger and guilt seemed to bubble up and out of him uncontrollably. “But no -- you want dominion over the living, all of you Sith, you want dominion over life itself but all you do is kill!”
“You were the one who tried to stop Master Windu, Master Kenobi. I merely finished the job, as it were.”
“I was trying to avert a crisis -- ’’
“But you wouldn’t have been there in the first place if it wasn’t for Duchess Satine, would you? Or your Padawan? Or the safety of the Republic itself? This encounter merely stripped away the illusion and brought you truth. The Jedi Order as it is now cannot be allowed to continue.”
“There had to have been another way.”
“Indeed,” Sidious said, “So you say.” A beat. “I know now why they call you the Negotiator.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
“What do we do now?”
“Master Windu may be dead,” Sidious said, words that caused an involuntary shiver of guilt down Obi-Wan’s spine, “But the Jedi will not rest until I am dead.”
“I came to avoid bloodshed, not betray my friends.”
“Indeed? The Duchess of Mandalore seems to have rubbed off on you, has she?”
Silence.
“What is it to you, Chancellor?”
“Merely an observation,” the Chancellor said. “You know what you saw, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The question is now what you wish to do.” A beat. “Not the Council. Of course they would have attempted to kill me where Master Windu failed. It is their nature.”
“They don’t -- ’’
And yet even now, the image of Mace’s face clouded with rage and vengeance filled Obi-Wan’s mind. And in spite of himself, he shuddered and closed his eyes.
Even now, Obi-Wan weighed the odds in his mind -- his loyalty to the Order, everything he had ever known, against what was ultimately right. For the Jedi Order, for Satine, for Anakin, for so many others. And then, slowly, he nodded.
“All right,” he said, “I will do what I must.”
“Good. Kneel before me, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
Obi-Wan did so, swallowing his bile, trying to repeat It’s all for the best, all for the best inside his mind. And yet at the same time, it didn’t help. He could already picture Qui-Gon’s reaction, seeing his Padawan kneeling before the Dark Lord of the Sith in such a way, and quietly, he prayed to Qui-Gon to forgive him.
But then again, who knew what Qui-Gon Jinn would have said? Perhaps he would have seen it as Obi-Wan’s destiny, of surrendering to the ultimate will of the Living Force. Obi-Wan had seen the Jedi Order beginning to come apart at the seams, but he had been too blind to truly see.
“Will you swear your life forevermore to the Order of the Sith Lords?”
“Yes.”
“Good, good.” The sound of Darth Sidious was almost like the purring of a contented rancor. “The Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith,” he said, reminding Obi-Wan, almost, of a nightmarish reflection of Master Yoda, “You will become. From this moment henceforth, you shall be known as Darth...”
A pause in the Force, a question. And then...
“Acheron.”
It was more than a declaration from the Dark Lord of the Sith. It was a pair of syllables that meant him.
“Thank you, my master.” Forgive me, my masters, for what I am about to do...
“Rise.”
Obi-Wan did so.
“You must recognize now that every single Jedi, including your apprentice Anakin Skywalker and your friend Master Yoda, is now an enemy of the Republic.”
“I understand.” More than anything I do.
“Good, good. Your first mission is to go to the Jedi Temple and wipe out every Jedi occupying it. That way, you will eliminate a key threat to the Republic and everything it stands for. After that, you must go to the Mustafar system and wipe out Viceroy Gunray.”
“What of the other Jedi?”
“Leave them to me.” Acheron could have sworn that he saw a horrible smirk underneath Sidious’ hood, almost the sort that would look more flattering on a maalras. “Now go, Acheron. Bring peace to the galaxy, as you were meant to.”
Acheron left now, heading out into the rain.
He could only pray that his masters would forgive him for what he was about to do. But then again, how could he, how could he even begin, when he wasn’t certain if he could forgive himself?
