Chapter Seventeen: The Tragedy Of Darth Plagueis The Wise

[ladyofleithian]

In which Obi-Wan enters the Minotaur's lair, so to speak.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. 

It was later that Obi-Wan had to leave Sabe if only to go spy on the Chancellor. The best he could do was tell her that he would be back shortly before heading towards the opera. Taking the nearest shuttle towards the opera – it seemed that even in a wartime setting, Obi-Wan mused, the people of Coruscant seemed to be determined to act like nothing was going wrong, that it was the same as always. The only difference being the news of the Separatist attacks and conquests outside.

He knew that Padmè would have to face Grievous and Dooku and the others sometime. He could only pray that she was up to the challenge.

At least, Obi-Wan thought, even as he managed to bustle his way through the crowd, it at least seemed that some parts of Coruscant seemed reluctant to acknowledge that there was trouble on Coruscant. There were some people outside, Obi-Wan had noticed on the way to the opera, struggling in a long line to get food rations. And fights. Plenty of those, too.

He could only hope that the war would end. That everything would get back to normal. And yet he doubted it. Recovering from a war wasn’t as simple as the metaphorical snap of the fingers. It was a lot more complicated than that. And yet at the same time, he wished...

Obi-Wan sighed, slumping against the nearest wall, running a hand through his hair. If it had started graying at this point, he mused darkly, he wouldn’t have been surprised.

And then there was the matter of the mission itself. Padmè...Padmè, at least, would have found it easy to blend into the crowd at the opera and speak to Palpatine and get the necessary information out of him without him so much as noticing, but he, Obi-Wan? His relationship with the Chancellor was tenuous at best. He and the Chancellor...well, one could say they had grown slightly closer during the war, but that honestly didn’t say much.

It was in the opera house that Obi-Wan saw the display – the iridescent display ahead of the Mon Calamari production, “Squid Lake”, a story about two lovers kept apart by an evil magician. Obi-Wan had to raise his eyebrows, if only slightly. Not exactly the sort of production one would expect to air during wartime, but then again, it could have been some slight bias on his part. After all, he had been so frazzled by the war and just about everything else that, in all honesty...sometimes it seemed almost ludicrous that the galaxy would keep turning, keep going when it seemed like everything they stood for seemed to be crumbling down.

Then again, Obi-Wan thought, he wasn’t really in the best of positions to be judging this matter. The nightmares about the hooded man, and so many other things...it was really no wonder that he was afraid, to say the very least.

The Chancellor was sitting in one of the front rows, surrounded by red guards, when Obi-Wan approached. Obi-Wan could already feel a twinge of nervousness in him, and it didn’t help that something in the Force told him that there was already something very, very wrong with the Chancellor. Or at least his entourage. Or both.

Then again, he had never been really fond of politicians. Except for, say, Bail Organa and Sabe Amidala, he could not say that he was fond of politicians.

Still, the Chancellor didn’t seem to mind his presence. At least, he sent a friendly smile towards Obi-Wan and beckoned him to join.

Obi-Wan supposed that he had no choice. After all, the desires of the Council were elevated far above his own personal desires and personal beliefs. The needs of the mission outweighed the needs and opinions and baggage of the one carrying out the mission. It was something that some people outside the Order would no doubt not get, but Obi-Wan knew it to be true. He had been educated on that matter ever since he was a boy.

Once Mas Amedda and the others had been dismissed – much to Obi-Wan’s relief – Obi-Wan took a seat beside the Chancellor. “So,” Obi-Wan said, “You summoned me?”

“Yes.”

“Why not Padmè?”

“She was...busy.”

“Ah, yes.” The Council had already sent Padmè on a mission to search for Count Dooku and General Grievous. Obi-Wan could only wish her the best of luck. “So,” he said, “What did you wish to speak to me of?”

“Well, there’s some good news, news that came in quite recently. Clone Intelligence has located General Grievous and Count Dooku.”

The news should have at least gladdened Obi-Wan. Instead, something in him felt suddenly very hollow and very afraid. Padmè, oh Padmè...what has the Council gotten you into? Maybe Clone Intelligence could get the news to the Council before it was too late, and yet at the same time, Obi-Wan wasn’t exactly what one would call optimistic. Still, he tried to put on a glad face, of sorts, if only for the benefit of the mission. “That’s....good,” Obi-Wan said. “Definitely some of the best news that we’ve had in a while.”

“Isn’t it?” Palpatine said. “Now you can capture these monsters and end the war.”

Obi-Wan doubted he had ever seen Palpatine this invested. Even in some of his talks of the corruption of the Republic, Obi-Wan doubted he had heard such passion in the Chancellor’s voice. It was almost, for a moment, enough to make him believe. Then: “Chancellor...do you think that with the capture of Grievous and Dooku that the war is going to end?”

“Well,” the Chancellor said, “It’s not a given outcome, but it is entirely possible.” A pause. “Are you all right, Master Kenobi? You don’t seem to have slept well.”

“Oh, of course I’m fine. Just...nerves.” Obi-Wan was painfully aware of how flimsy an excuse that sounded. It was the best he could do, at least, considering the situation.

They sat in silence, observing the opera. Listening to the faint humming of the score, and the psychedelic light show that went on down below. Then Palpatine spoke. “I will confess, Master Kenobi, that I’m not entirely certain of the Council’s abilities to end the war.”

Why is he even telling me that? It’s like he wants me to find out what he’s up to! Him and so many others... But Obi-Wan had to try and keep his best “sabaac face”, as some would put it. To show no emotion. “Are you certain of that, Chancellor? The Council tries to do the best it can.”

“Perhaps,” Palpatine said, “But the matter of things such as that alliance with the Hutts...”

“It was necessary,” Obi-Wan said. “We’re at war – we have to do what we can. Even ally ourselves with more...unsavory individuals.”

He almost couldn’t believe that Palpatine was saying this.

Palpatine continued. “And from what I gathered from Padmè, they don’t seem to trust you, either. You or Padmè, for that matter. I believe they may be up to something.”

He’s onto something.

Palpatine looked at Obi-Wan. “What is it, Master Kenobi?”

“Oh,” Obi-Wan said, “Nothing. I just...I simply don’t believe the Council would be conspiring against the Republic. It would seem counterproductive, after all, would it not?”

“Perhaps.” Palpatine leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in a way that Obi-Wan felt uneasy. “Still...I will admit, Master Kenobi, I have been observing the matter of Jedi and Sith history, and I observed something quite interesting.”

Oh. Suddenly, Obi-Wan found the opera production below far less interesting than Palpatine’s face. “Tell me more.” At least, Obi-Wan thought, it would provide him fuel to report back to the Council.

“There was an old Sith legend that I read of,” Palpatine said. “Have you ever heard of the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?”

“Not exactly, no.” Where was Palpatine going with this?

Palpatine folded his hands on his lap. “It told of a Sith Lord so powerful and so wise that he could keep people he cared about from dying.”

“But that can’t be done!” And yet at the same time, something in Obi-Wan could not help but be impressed. It was wrong, against the Jedi Code, and yet at the same time, he thought, it was extraordinary...

“Apparently, it was.” Palpatine smiled, if only slightly. “It was a simple matter of manipulating the midichlorians to create or sustain life.”

Simple...

“I can’t imagine anything about that being simple, Chancellor.”

“True. But from what you’ve told me about the Force, and what Padmè has told me...nothing is truly impossible with the Force, is it?”

“Perhaps not.” After all, Padmè had managed to revive the dead. Perhaps the news of manipulating midichlorians wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

Obi-Wan slumped back in his seat. “What happened to him? This...Darth Plagueis, I mean.”

“He died.” Palpatine’s voice was soft. “His apprentice killed him in his sleep. It’s quite ironic that he could save others from death, but not himself.”

“That is a quite sad story,” Obi-Wan said (at least, it was somewhat sad, he supposed, he had to admit. Such talent wasted – and in the Sith ranks. In the Jedi ranks, he would be a genius. More than that, even – he would be beautiful), “But what does that have to do with anything?"

Palpatine looked at him. “Haven’t you ever wanted to put things right, Obi-Wan? To undo the damage?”

Obi-Wan bit his lip. He had come to the Chancellor, once, after Ahsoka’s death – he hadn’t expected to start relying on the Chancellor, in a sense, and yet there he was. It was almost as if, for a moment, Palpatine was wearing down his barriers. And yet at the same time, there was something about Palpatine that made him, if anything, quite uneasy.

“I suppose,” he said, “But one can’t go against the will of the Force. After all...everything has its time and everything ends.”

“I believe those who lost their lives to the Separatists would disagree with you on that matter, Master Kenobi.”

Obi-Wan flinched; somehow, it almost felt as if he had been slapped. “They died heroes, Chancellor.”

“I’m not disputing that, Master Kenobi. I simply wonder...could events have been different if the Council had...acted differently?”

It was something that Obi-Wan hadn’t even realized that he wanted to consider. And yet at the same time, the possibilities began sizzling inside his brain – undeniable. Perhaps he could find a way to save Sabe from the horrible events in his dreams. To save Padmè. To stop the hooded man in his dreams. To stop the dissolution of the Order and the galaxy. To make it so, just this once, everything turned out right.

They needed more days like this, after all. All of them...all of them needed this.

“It is an interesting idea, Chancellor,” Obi-Wan said. “At least...it’s worth considering.”

Palpatine smiled, if only slightly. “Then you are learning.”

They sat in silence for the rest of the opera. And even long after the grand finale and the round of applause and the departure for Obi-Wan back to his apartment with Sabe, saying good night to the Chancellor and reassuring him that he had a wonderful time...even on the way back to the apartment, Obi-Wan could not help but wonder what the Chancellor meant by that phrase. Then you are learning. It could mean anything, of course. It did not necessarily have to mean that the Chancellor was necessarily the Sith Lord. He could be any sort of renegade Force user, or maybe not even a renegade Force user at all. He could be anything.

Still, it was something worth considering to the Council. And if the Chancellor was indeed the Sith Lord, the Council could take him down or imprison him by any means necessary, stopping him from doing more harm.

And yet at the same time...

Even long after the shuttle dropped him off at Sabe’s apartment, Obi-Wan stopped a moment on the veranda leading to the apartment. Outside, the skies were streaked with the beginning of morning. He sighed, blearily rubbed his eyes.

Perhaps he could find a way to learn more about Plagueis. Perhaps Plagueis would be the key to solving this mystery of Darth Sidious. And perhaps, Obi-Wan thought, he could learn something as well. Something, anything, to undo every day of the Clone Wars. Every day dealing with Ahsoka’s death, every day dealing with the war – every day streaked with grief.

Every day, Obi-Wan thought, that felt like this. Uncertain and afraid.

Because this had gone on far too long.

It had to come to an end. 

Comments

[darth-eldritch.livejournal.com]

Palpatine? There's nothing wrong with him. Whatever gave you that idea?

Good read! Interesting how to make Darth Plaguis the Wise somewhat blievable to Obi-Wan!

I posted some more pic :)

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Exactly! He's just an ordinary Chancellor wanting to make his way in the universe. ;-)

And thanks! :D

And that's awesome! :D *Makes note to look at*

[darth-eldritch.livejournal.com]

He's beyond reproach, an honest man who just doing his job....

You're welcome!

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Of course! It's not like he's trying to overthrow the Republic from the inside or something. ;-)

[darth-eldritch.livejournal.com]

Are you insinuating that such a fine gentleman would do such a heinous thing? Shame on you!

LOL

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

XD.

Yeah, honestly, Palpatine is made of win, so very much. :)