Saga After the War (Post Shatterpoint Mace and Obi-Wan Vignette) Finished

I finished Shatterpoint about a week ago and this scene has been playing through my mind ever since.

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Floating. In self-imposed suspended animantion, Depa Billaba looked as though she might as well already be dead, yet Mace could not bring himself to end her life. As long as she lived there was hope that she could be saved from what she had become. He had been here every chance he could get between the war and Council meetings, what little remained of the Council. We're dropping faster then tics on a Taun Taun, he through derisively.

It was this war, this Clone War for the survival of the Republic and all the dictates it stood for. As he gazed up at the blank, unseeing stare of his former Padawan and fellow Council member, those ideals seemed to pale in comparison. Not the thoughts of a Jedi Master, let alone one of the Senior members of the Council. Yoda had hounded him ever since his return from Haruun Kal, yet Mace could not find it in himself to face the aged Master.

Dooku, Yoda's own former Padawan, was the cause of this Clone War. Yoda's grief must be as deep and unyeilding as his own, yet the aged Master countinued to ease the pain of others. Mace had once done the same.

Things were so much simpler when I was a Padawan, he thought with a hint of winsom fancy in his mental tone. To go back to those days, to feel the surprise and wonder of youth, to smile freely and openly. It would see like joining the Force to him. But there was a war raging outside of this galaxy, a war that he kept sending the finest of Jedi against, and seeing more and more come back for the ritual ceremony that they had performed for Qui-Gon Jinn over ten years ago. That was the true beginning of this mess, that debacle on Naboo, where the Sith had reared their ugly head and had spit in the faces of the Jedi by killing one of its finest Jedi.

If only we had sent backup with him and Obi-Wan, perhaps this war would never have risin. His thoughts tended to the more morbid since Haruun Kal.

He took a deep steadying breath and immediately regreted it, as the wounds he had received from his self-imposed mission pained him, some of those wounds he had been given by Depa herself. Seeing the lifelessness in her, he supposed he wished death on any Jedi more then what had become of the girl he had raised from childhood.

Behind him the door whired silently open and footsteps sounded before pausing just outside of the threshhold. "You can come in, Obi-Wan."

"I did not mean to disturb you, Master. I will leave if you wish," came the cultured even, respected, tones of Obi-Wan Kenobi. His own voice sounding as haggard as Mace felt.

A sad expression creased Mace's dark features. Even in his youth Obi-Wan had been weary of him, even as a friendship had begun to bud between he and Depa, Obi-Wan had always kept his distance. "She was your friend, Obi-Wan. I would not dishonor you by restricted your right as such."

The bearded man nodded, and it struck Mace how much Obi-Wan had become like his Master. Pensive, introspective, but friendly and, surprisingly, defiant. What the Sith had taken, Qui-Gon had given back in his apprentice.

"I just got back from Sorell and had to come once I heard the news," Obi-Wan explained. Mace heard his own pain echoed in Obi-Wan's voice. "I still find it hard to believe, even though it was Yoda who delivered it himself. Yet at the same time it makes sense."

Mace nodded, knowing exactly what Obi-Wan meant. It all came down to this hideous war, the cost of which, Mace was not sure the galaxy could handle. "How is Anakin handling it?"

It was the first time that Mace had ever seen Obi-Wan physically wince. "I fear for him. There's a distance in him, with each passing battle, he grows farther and father from me. Oh, I can still see the boy I knew in those eyes, but the image is far and few between."

"Yet you make the sacrifice for the Republic," Mace said, coldly.

"As did you," Obi-Wan defended. "As do all the Jedi."

"Wha

 

Glad I found this, Zara!

Very nice vignette, full of dark, brooding emotion. Poor Mace, losing a former Padawan and colleague to the Dark Side. Seems to be in fashion in the Clone Wars - and, of course, Anakin will do that better than anyone, just like he outdoes the other Jedi in everything else...

Is there more? The story seemed to cut in the middle of the introspection.

 

I didn't even read "Shatterpoint" and I found this story absolutely wonderful. You kept true to the characters with some great images and ideas in the writing. The foreboding had a great tone, and overall I just love the story.



tf

 

This makes me want to run out and buy Shatterpoint. I read this earlier but I didn't have time to review. Amazing work, as usual.

 

I bought Shatterppoint, but got trapped by good ole Harry. I'll keep reading here, but want to get to Shatterpoint very soon to have a better understanding of the backstory.

 

[/b]Shloz

Glad I found this, Zara!

Very nice vignette, full of dark, brooding emotion. Poor Mace, losing a former Padawan and colleague to the Dark Side. Seems to be in fashion in the Clone Wars - and, of course, Anakin will do that better than anyone, just like he outdoes the other Jedi in everything else...

Is there more? The story seemed to cut in the middle of the introspection.

Yeah, our little Anakin always tries to outdo everyone else. There is more. Coming from Obi-Wan's mind pattern. As always Shloz I enjoy your thoughts. Thanks.

TheFallen

I didn't even read "Shatterpoint" and I found this story absolutely wonderful. You kept true to the characters with some great images and ideas in the writing. The foreboding had a great tone, and overall I just love the story.
tf

Fallen. I'm glad that it was easy to follow even though you hadn't read "Shatterpoint". I think the Clone Wars is a wonderful timeset to work in. There is so much to work inside, so much heartache and confliction. Thanks.

Master_Comedy_Kitty

This makes me want to run out and buy Shatterpoint. I read this earlier but I didn't have time to review. Amazing work, as usual.

Wow. Maybe they should hire me for promotion. J/k. Thanks.

PadawanKitara

I bought Shatterppoint, but got trapped by good ole Harry. I'll keep reading here, but want to get to Shatterpoint very soon to have a better understanding of the backstory.

I highly suggest it. "Shatterpoint" is very though provoking. I found that I could not put it down.

 

Upping.

 

Depa, Deap. Why you? Obi-Wan throught as he turned his gaze from the strange and discomforting Mace Windu. Then man seemed unlike himself in more then one way. Do to his injuries he stood slighly hunched over, his shoulders curved in, visible to only one who had known him his entire life. To Obi-Wan, Master Windu, had seemed larger then any other Jedi then perhaps his own Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. To see the man so deflated, troubled the younger Jedi deeply.

The recent battle that the Republic had just triumphed in had left him only cold with the thought that there were still so many worlds that were being occupied by force the way that Naboo had been over ten years ago.

The fact that someone he was so close to could turn against the very things they had debated about on late nights in the Temple. It made him fear even more for what the effects of the war were doing to Anakin, little more then a boy and tormented by the same things that had brought about Depa's down fall.

He thought of his friend, a fierce opponent both in debate and in saber training. The VII form too which only Mace and Depa had Mastered was one that few could defend against let alone get in a few attacks. Had Depa become lost in Vaapad, the VII form, which was the dangerous of all?

"As long as there is only one Jedi, the galaxy will always have hope," Obi-Wan said, trying as much to reassure himself as Mace.

"You're faith is more then I fear most have," Master Windu returned. "Depa lost it. I nearly lost it. What do you do when the Force betrays you, Obi-Wan? Where there is no straight path but ones of broken stone?"

Why does he ask me? I am not even on par with his knowledge in the Force. "Then your struggle through. Master Qui-Gon once told me that there are no correct paths save the one you stand on. You make the path correct through your actions."

A chuckled escape Mace and for a brief moment Obi-Wan caught the daunting Jedi Master that he used to fear as a child. "Is that what he was trying to do? Make the path fit?"

"And infuriating his Padawan every step of the way," Obi-Wan retorted wryly. "We are on a terrible path, but it is one that we have, for the moment, control over."

Mace gave him a disbelieving look. "And what of the Sith? They lurk out there, waiting, plotting, we have no control over that?"

"The Sith are but two, we have hundreds, thousands," Obi-Wan countered.

"But for how much longer, Obi-Wan?" Mace asked. "On Geonosis we lost nearly two hundred Jedi Knights."

Pain raked through Obi-Wan's thinning figure. Geonosis. How he hated the thought of that planet, of the battle that had been fought there. So many Jedi, so many of his friends and colleagues, gunned down by faceless, emotionless Battle Droids, while Dooku, Qui-Gon's former Master, watched on undisturbed.

Join me, Obi-Wan, and together we will destroy the Sith. That temptation on the surface had been easy to refuse but there was the tiniest amount where Obi-Wan wondered if Dooku was telling the truth, that his Master's Master would not lead him astray.

Dooku was charismatic, as much as Qui-Gon had been in life, but there was a hint of a serpent in his tongue and that was what had helped Obi-Wan refuse him. This man was not promoting life, he was mainpulating a Jedi he knew had loved his Master deeply.

"Perhaps you and Master Yoda should never have gone there," Obi-Wan mused out loud. He had carried the guilt of Geonosis for far to long. They had come to help him, a Jedi who could not keep himself from being caught.

Master Windu must have sensed this for he turned his head away from the prone form hovering inside the tank in front of him. "You are not to blame for this war, Obi-Wan. It was coming before we even sent you to protect Senator Amidala, before Ansion. The Jedi just decided to choose the battlegrounds on Geonosis. Master Yoda had hoped to capture Dooku and end it all there."

"But instead he saved me and Anakin," Obi-Wan finished what Master Windu was too kind to

 

Zara, this fic is absolutely breathtaking! You should submit it to the Archives! I haven't read Shatterpoint, but you've brough the characters to life in a way that I can understand them without reading the book! This is marvelous, Zara, marvelous! Such a great read! Brilliant, stunning job!

 

I haven't started the book yet, but this fic is thought provoking all by itself!

 

KrystalBlaze

Zara, this fic is absolutely breathtaking! You should submit it to the Archives! I haven't read Shatterpoint, but you've brough the characters to life in a way that I can understand them without reading the book! This is marvelous, Zara, marvelous! Such a great read! Brilliant, stunning job!

Thanks, KrystalBalze. I'll have to find a beta reader for it, but I think I will submit it once it is finished.

PadawanKitara

I haven't started the book yet, but this fic is thought provoking all by itself!

Though provoking stories are my favorite.

 

Having just finished Shatterpoint, i'd like to applaud how close this fic mirrors the themes of that novel.

looking forward to the next portion..
good job..

 

Zara, if you need beta, I'll gladly offer my services.

 

oh, Krystal that would be wonderful.

 

Mace reached up to touch his fingers to the clear transparisteel where the bacta had floated Depa's delicate fingers towards the edge. Where was the little girl he had rescued from pirates, who had fit snuggly in the crux of his arm. The bacta swirled again as the recyclers constantly exchanged the used bacta and replaced it with the purified viscous fluid, Depa's hand floated back into the red maelstrom.

Swallowing the emotion that rose, Mace turned his attention back to Obi-Wan who was fighting his own demons. "Depa used to say there was no one in the Order quite like you, Obi-Wan."

"I always looked up to her," the younger Jedi stammered out. "Although we were close to the same age, she carried herself with a steadier calm then most. She used to laugh at me when I told her you intimidated me." Obi-Wan gave Mace a piercing gaze and again Mace was reminded of Qui-Gon. "Is it true that she tried to kill you?"

Shivers coursed through Mace's still beaten body. "I will carry the scar forever."

"But the physical wounds are harder to deal with," Obi-Wan interjected. He leaned against a nearby medical bunk with a sigh that might as well have come from Master Yoda with all the age behind it.

"We spend so much of our time working for the benefit of the galaxy we foget that we are just as vulnerable," Mace said, his hand rubbing against the bandage where Depa had plunged her lightsaber into him. The very lightsaber he had helped her to build.

Obi-Wan stroked at his beard. "That's what I've always been taught," he said wryly, a humorless smile touching his thinned face. Tentatively, he sent a furtive glance at Depa. "Have the Healer's given a time when she can come out of the tank?"

"She can at anytime," Mace answered as simply as his contracting throat allowed. "Physically she is healed but as you say it is the internal wounds that heal the slowest. She's at war with herself now. There are some people, like Xanatos and Dooku who touch the Dark Side and welcome the power it gives them. Then there are those who spin dive quickly, fear the touch of the Dark Side but feel trapped by it."

"Depa became trapped," Obi-Wan deduced. "I can't think she ever enjoyed it.

Maced turned away from the girl that was the closest thing to a child he would ever have. "Not right away, but if it was not pleasurable at all no one would use it."

"The Dark Side is quick but short lived," Obi-Wan agreed. "I know that better then most."

Naboo, Mace throught. He could still remember arriving on the picturesque planet, propelled by a grief stricken Obi-Wan's plea for their arrival. Before Obi-Wan had told the tale of Qui-Gon's death, Master Yoda had taken the then young Padawan aside. After Qui-Gon had been struck down, Obi-Wan had given into his anger and had attacked with reckless abandon. It had taken a near death experience for him to final realizes the terrible direction he was taking himself into.

"Good for the galaxy and the Order that you do," Mace said. "These lessons come not but once but often and usually in increased stress."

"Do you continue to be taught by the lesson, Master?" Obi-Wan asked

Solemnly, Mace nodded. "As soon as we feel ourselves beyond a fall is when we are the most vulnerable to it."

 

good..
up!

 

Thanks.

 

Wonderful Force-philosophy here. Your dialogue is so deep, yet real!

 

Thanks Shloz. This is basically a short stroy that has evolved from a vignette about Mace and Obi-Wan learning to deal with what has become their destiny. And in a way a temporary healing for one another from the rigors of war.

 

"We never stop progressing," Obi-Wan remakred thoughtfully.

But we have, Mace countered in his mind, not yet ready to divulge this outloud. Just thinking it made him feel as though he had uttered blasphemy. But there it was, the truth staring out at him like a globe of light just out of his reach. Where do we go from here? he wondered. Was there some progression that we missed that might have prepared us for this uproar in the galaxy?

The Order had been the same for nearly the whole of Mace's life. People like Qui-Gon Jinn and Anakin Skywalker had shaken it up but it had taken the Clone War to redefine the Jedi as a whole. Before we were only Keeper's of the Peace but we have become soldiers, the very thing that I had declared to the Supreme Chancellor can never be.

Obi-Wan's azure gaze had once again settled on Depa. Mace had often worried about the feelings between the two of them, for love had definitely sprouted in their youth, but it had never evolved into anything different then that of a sister to a brother. Love was forbidden, attachement prohibited, but how far could we take it before we turned into living battle droids. No loyalty but to the ones who activiated them, to the commands that were inputed into memory banks.

Mace wished briefly, and very un-Jedi like, that perhaps there had been more between Depa and Obi-Wan, that somehow that tie could have saved her. For certainly the bond between Mace and Depa had not been enough.

"Will she ever recover?" he whispered, having taken note of my intense observation. "Mentally, I mean."

"That would depend on Depa," Mace answered simply. he let his head fall forward, a sign that he had little hope that Depa would pull herself from the pergatory her mind wondered. "I've decided to give up Vaapad," he whispered.

Obi-Wan did not react in surprise as Mace had anticipated but had only nodded. "I changed my form after Qui-Gon died. Sometimes we make adjustments on the path." He peered at Mace intensely and caught the question lying behind the dark eyes. "For me I feel it was the right choice, but for you...that is only something for Mace Windu and the eddies of the Force to decide."

"You defeated the Sith with the older form. The only Jedi in centuries to face one and survive, come away the victor," Mace pointed out, hoping to gain more of an insight into the battle that had been legend the moment Obi-Wan Kenobi had stepped inside the Temple.

Obi-Wan grimaced. "I won my life and my soul, nothing more. I lost more then I gained in that battle."

"What of Anakin?"

"He would have gone to a Master who had more experience, who could help him with the terrible questions this war brings," Obi-Wan answered. "What kind of a Master would I be if I did not admit that I do not have all the answers? That I rarely do."

"I could not save Depa. We can only give as much as they will take," Mace told him. And in the words he felt the release of his guilt that he had been cradling close to him, like a wound he let heal to scab and then pulled the protective cover off, expsoing it to the pain of air. Now he felt that there was a tougher layer of skin over the gap, but the scar would always be there just as the more physically one Depa had given him.

For Obi-Wan, however, the strike had not yet wounded him, he was still dodging the saber that was thrusted at him. Mace hoped with everything inside of him that Obi-Wan would be able to forever dodge that. That Anakin would take all that Obi-Wan offered. That such a pairing would only bring good to the Order.

Perhaps bring the balance that prophesied Anakin's coming.

 

thinks for a second..

impressive..that Mace is giving up Vaapad is something i am not surprised at happening..the nature of the level is such that , as demonstrated in Shatterpoint, brings the user close to the DS..dangerous

onceagain good job!

up

 

Obi-Wan felt the peace Master Windu had been strugglin with snap into place. He remembered it from his own Master's struggle with dealing with a Padawan who had gone to the Dark Side. Just as the struggle to remain on the light was a constant battle of choices, Obi-Wan knew that to deal with such a loss was a constant battle of memories.

If only Obi-Wan could feel such a release of that tension. He felt that a darkness was only building not lessoning and his dreams, when he was able to sleep, were filled with what he believed to be a vision. He stood inside a tunnel, unable to see the ground below him, but with each step it shifted under his feet. There was a light, he could see it a pinpoint in the distance. He hurried to it, ran with all his might, but it seemed impossible for to reach.

He wasn't exactly sure what the dream meant or even if it was a vision of what was to come or what was, but he knew either way, that the Jedi, the Republic, and the galaxy we're in great peril. He only hoped that he could give Anakin the instruction he needed so that when the fate of balance was in the time for decision, his Padawan would make the right choice.

---

"Would you mind giving us some time alone, Obi-Wan?" Mace asked, seeing that the younger Jedi had gone introspective.

With a sharp jerk, Obi-Wan focused his attention. "No of course not." Obi-Wan bowed. "Thank you for your time, Master."

"Obi-Wan," Mace stopped him.

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan turned from the door and faced Mace and Depa once again.

Mace gave him a bow of his head. "Call me, Mace. We're equals for the moment."

"Never equals, but thank you...Mace," Obi-Wan stumbled the name.

As Obi-Wan walked out, Mace turned back to the tank that held his floating former Padawan. "You've been hanging on for me, haven't you?" He shook his head. "I couldn't let you go, couldn't let what happened between us go." He pressed his hand to the clear transparasteel. "I forgive you, Depa, my Padawan."

For a moment he thought he saw a flicker inside those unseeing eyes, perhaps she had heard him this time. "Open yourself to the Force, my Padawan. Let the light blast the darkness. Let go."

With that Mace kissed the tips of his fingers and brought it to his forehead, in the old Chalactan way of farewell and retreated through the same path Obi-Wan had just escaped.

It was sometime in the night that the Healer's monitors screamed in alarm as Depa's brain waves wavered and then thinned completely, the body rhythms following close behind. As Mace settled into sleep he was woken by the sound of a voice he had though never to hear again.

Thank you, Master.

 

Oh, ZARA!

*cries*

That was crazily beautiful! You portrayed every emotions wonderfully and in check with the characters they pretain to! I loved it and it was so touching!

If you want me to beta, send it to address in my profile, I'll be glad to do it for you!

*goes off to cry*

 

Thanks Krystal. I'll do that. Gald you liked it.

 

Beautiful, poignant ending.

I guess I should go read Shatterpoint to complete the circle, but I wonder whether it'll measure up.