Saga One Prick to Bleed - an AU beginning in AotC (Obi, Ani, Sabe, Yoda) - Mar. 1

Updated 2/2/2013

::deep breath:: Greetings, salutations, and what up! Thanks to RotS, I've finally come back to the JC and SW universe, and I've finally decided to give my plot bunny the attention it thinks it deserves. The story begins during AotC shortly after Anakin goes kill-happy on the Sand People, and it goes all AU from there. Some of you oldbies might remember my Sabe trilogy, and there will be parts reminiscent of it, but this is not a romance.

Okay, I'm nervous and will just shut up now.


TITLE: One Prick to Bleed
AUTHOR: Amidolee
Summary: An AU beginning during AotC, featuring Sabè, Anakin, and Obi-Wan.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except my muse, and even that is doubtful.

Chapter One

Balance.

A word hanging in the air, filling the shadows looming over the deep chamber like a sentry. An idea warring the shadows against the dappling dance of evening Coruscant traffic, like whirling grains of sand in a dust storm. But the shadows belonged in the chamber, wrapping around the smooth, curved structural pillars; they revealed the chamber?s height, its depth, but invited the mind to search for more than where the flickering, moving lights touched. The lights belonged here, too, in their play. Once the sun rose, the shadows would begin their slow, graceful bow to the light, but they would not leave. Shadows belonged in the day as much as light in the night.

They were balanced.

Jedi Master Yoda stood gazing through the curving transparisteel wall of this secreted chamber. He knew many Jedi found the breathtaking, dazzling chaos of Coruscant nightlights distracting to the initial calm needed for meditation. If he so wished, he could seal this view and bathe his chamber in complete, controlled calm.

But Yoda preferred balance.

A tricky thing, balance. Yoda chewed thoughtfully on his gimer stick . He might have chuckled at the chemical jokes he knew were traded among the Jedi, if his thoughts were not so serious. Large, rounded green eyes reflected and absorbed the sunset and traffic, the white beams approaching and then curving wide around the Jedi Temple as reserved, red lights flowed away to be lost in the flicker and blaze of a technological sea at sunset.

White against red. Coming and going. But from another perspective, the lights were reversed. The only absolute . . . they flowed around the Jedi Temple. Its spears pierced through the moving sea of lights, a reaching, towering rock that split the current, disrupted the flow and forced it around. Despite the warm, soothing glow that bathed the Temple at night, a relative darkness ringed the empty space between the constant movement of Coruscant and the home the Jedi.

The Keepers of Balance.

Yoda breathed slowly, clasping his three-clawed hands over his stick. Very few Jedi understood the balance they served to keep. All light, it was not. The Force was not simply split into absolute Light and Dark, nor Good and Evil. Even if it were divided so simply, so complacently, one side of the Force could not exist without the other.

Without darkness there can be no light.

The Force is truth. Undeniable. In everything, of everything . . . Absolute only in itself. It is always light and dark, moving through gray. Flickers of light in the dark. Shadows creeping into the light. The Jedi, the universe, lived in the gray, moved through it; flickers of light trying to penetrate darkness. But the darkness also moved. It could only be displaced, perhaps spread and thinned, but it would always be there.

Unless . . .

Balance, so fragile. One grain of sand . . .

Yoda did not need to turn his head and fully illuminate his chamber to know. Once the light banks were fully powered, the shadows would disappear, and the room would seemingly lose its depth. The mind would not be aware of shadows. Only a round, lighted chamber would it see.

Better to be aware of both the light and the shadow.

A soft, barely audible sigh escaped the diminutive Jedi Master. Balance he understood, the dance of

 

Not a romance?!?!?!

Great start!! Ooooh... Sabe has to take out Ani. FUN!!


*Super hugs* Great to see you writing again, babe!!

 

::hugs Miana:: Well, not quite a romance. I think assassination is a mood killer, don't you?

And now I've got to make those e's right . . .

 

Just as I suspected.










Your writing is better than ever!

I am curious to how Sabe has become available to do Yoda's bidding and how she could confront Anakin. I'm sure a background story is somewhere in your mind or stored in a computer somewhere!

I still envy your gift of descriptive writing. As a journalist, my method of writing is very straightforward and not as much fun. Can't wait to read more!

Welcome back to the fanfic boards!

~SL~

 

Wow... This definitely a twist! Sabé is going to try to take out Anakin before he can do further harm to the galaxy... well, maybe that isn't the best choice of words. Do or do not, and all that.

This is a great beginning, Amidolee! I'd read your Sabé Trilogy way back in the day and when I saw that you had begun something new, I jumped right in and I'm not disappointed one bit! Wow! Very cool!

But just what reprecussions will this have in the long run? If Anakin dies before the twins are conceived, then things could very well be made worse. On the other hand, big and sometimes very bad things happen and the Skywalkers are more often than not right in the very center of it. If they aren't there, then what would happen?

I'm full of questions, Amidolee! Can't wait for more!

AQ

 

I am not really a Sabe fan, but maybe this story will change my mind. Let me know when you update, ok?

 

This looks really thrilling, Amidolee. And it's most great to see you back again.

 

Just upping after reading the first post again!

AQ

 

Yay, people are replying! So, I guess I'll put up another post. Funny note: for months now, this story's working title has been "The Hand of Yoda," playing off the whole Emperor's Hand thing. But dear friend Jen simply died when I first said it, Heather giggled evilly, and then I couldn't just shove the image of, you know, the hand up puppet Yoda's *ahem* So I definitely needed another title. I still wanted to the pun-play on hand--handmaiden--but it kept going back to the puppet thing, so that had to go.

Senator Lorena: I thought my description was going down! And, yes, there is backstory. Brought to you in interspersed backflashes.

AngelQueen: Hello! Truth is, Yoda saw a vision of Luke whining to him on Dagobah and thought "oh, dear sith lords, nooooo!" Ok, not really, but it's funny to think so. Repercussions? Oh yes, I'm just trying to decide how far I want to take the story into them. I've got quite a bit plotted out, but some of is still open. I'm not planning on this being some epic trilogy, but if the bunny is frisky . . .

MasterSareBabe: Hi to you too! Not a Sabe fan? *gasp* I'll have to change that, though I'm not sure if you'll like her too much here.

This Flashback brought to you by the Department of Backstory, Inc.






Naboo, ten years earlier . . .

Quiet had finally settled over Theed Palace as Sabé silently made her way down the east garden corridor. Her feet ached and her eyes itched as they scanned the shadows formed by the arches bordering the gardens. The revelries were finally over, the stragglers had been kindly but firmly escorted out of the ballroom and into the city. Only the night security remained awake as the silver moon began its descent into the dawn.

Well, night security, Captain Panaka, and her.

As she passed under one of the soft yellow orbs illuminating the corridor, Sabé stifled a yawn. She should have just gone to bed once she?d sent the Queen and the others to restful, glorious, exhausted sleep, but she?d taken the responsibility of escorting young Anakin back to his chambers he was temporarily sharing with Obi-Wan Kenobi. The kid could barely walk and seemed rather disoriented and confused when Molnè, one of the palace hostesses, had tried to be his chaperone. And she?d wanted to be sure Anakin would not be left alone. But Jedi Kenobi had been there, apparently sleeping like any sensible person would at that hour. The door to his room had been closed, but through a yawn, Anakin said he could sense him, and so Sabé left once Anakin was fast asleep.

She should have gone to bed then. Everything was secure. But she knew Panaka would still be awake. Grumpy with his usual anxiety over possible danger to the Queen. Sabé could not blame him. The Trade Federation may be planning something other than licking their wounds.

But Captain Panaka had grouchily ordered her to bed. ?How would you like to play decoy tomorrow without even an hour?s sleep?? he?d demanded when she?d offered to assist him.

?About as much as I?d like our head of security to operate on chemical stimulants in the morning,? she?d replied.

Panaka was not one to take jokes in the wee hours.

So, Sabé left Panaka to torture night security, but she knew it would take her a bit longer to wind down. The long way back to the Queen?s Royal Chambers, a stroll through the east gardens . . . So peacefully silver in the moonlight, and the romula roses would be blooming . . .

Sabé entered the lavish, sloping garden under a vine arch flourishing with white petals. The soft, sweet fragrance cooled her face. The mossy path cushioned her slippered feet. She paused to remove the ballroom slippers and sighed deliriously as the dewy ground healed her aching feet. Then she followed the winding path, letting her mind empty to the soothing distant roar of the Solleu waterfall and trickling play of the garden?s own pools and falls. A calm breeze brushed the leaves, adding to the whispers of the night. Around her Theed glowed warmly,

 

This has great descriptions when she is walking through the garden...and through the whole entry! Keep it up.

 

Wow... sweet! Wonderful job, Amidolee! Very cool!

AQ

 

Chapter Two


The Jedi Temple, long before Coruscant was completely covered in kilometers high skyscrapers, once stood upon a mountain. Few living Jedi remembered the lush vegetation blanketing the sloping sides or the rushing, soft roar of tumbling waterfalls and sparkling streams. Still fewer Jedi were aware of the Temple?s foundations nestled into the mountain, of its tunnels and passages that once provided the Jedi with swift, secret routes outside of the haven. Long ago Coruscant had consumed the mountain, bled into and destroyed its paradise. The Jedi Temple surrendered its gardens and built upward, as if a monument to the natural formation buried under technology and consumption.

Sabé Mabriee knew the Jedi had salvaged what they could of their mountainside paradise, but she had never walked the Room of a Thousand Fountains, had never experienced the splendor encased in permacrete and metal. She was not of that world above her. She was the dark, crumbling tunnels long forgotten. She held their secrets, moved through them. Unknown. A secret herself.

All of this hovered at the edge of her mind as Sabé traveled silently in the Temple?s womb. Her mind was focused and numb from her deep meditation with Master Yoda, but she sensed that somewhere?if she let it?her head would buzz, her heart would race, and her thoughts would collide in a frantic mess. But only if she let it. The meditation helped. That swell of the Force she could only access through Yoda. Power and humility, understanding and senselessness . . .

She was addicted to it.

A tunnel breeze fluttered against her cloak as Sabé paused before a narrow, water worn crevice in the stone passage. Closing her eyes, she concentrated. The Force, always there but only just, brushed against her, solid but feather light. She raised her palm and pressed it against the cool stone. Even with her eyes closed, she saw her hand become lost in the shadow of the crevice, lost to the soft, barely illuminated lighting. The stone bowed from her palm, from combined Force and physical pressure, and Sabé opened her eyes.

Without hesitating, she entered the dark chamber beyond, instinctively reaching for an old manual lightswitch just to her right. Light suddenly flooded the chamber.

Home sweet home, she thought sardonically.

?Home? was a small, round room with an old but serviceable sleep bench, a primitive, minimal refresher, and a trunk for her belongings. If anyone discovered this tiny hovel, he or she would find no clue as to its occupant. The bedding was standard, plain gray material, and the trunk, if not found empty, would only contain soap, food capsules, and possibly some generic clothing for a small humanoid.

Sabé moved to the small sink and again palmed stone indentions lost in shadow. A small compartment opened to her. Immediately she emptied its contents and carried them to the small bed. For a moment she paused, staring at the weaponry before her.

Face Skywalker in combat, you shall not.

Slowly, she lifted a small, smoothly designed gun that fit in the palm of her hand. She studied the groove and holster where the toxic dart would slide. Never had she used it lethally, only for tranquilizing.

If her body had not been so tightly trained, her fingers might have trembled as they traced the contours of the trigger. But Sabé would not allow it. She holstered the gun, inspected the darts (she would have to fill them), and tested the small vibroblades. Everything that could not be carried or hidden inconspicuously on her person was packed carefully into a small travel rucksack.

Just as she stepped through the threshold, her chest fluttered. She paused, almost hearing her heart beginning to pound. No. If she waited another minute, she would start thinking, remembering . . . Touching the cool stone wall, Sabé steadied herself, forced her mind on the immediate.

She would have plenty of time to think in hyperspace.

Then she was back in the tunnel, her haven disappearing into the ro

 

I hope she'll be alright.

 

Ooh... interesting!

AQ

 

Ack! Sorry about the delay, but my boss seemed to forget that I'm only part time and a national holiday happened to be this weekend, and so I've been living in a grocery store for the past 5 days. Honestly, they should just give me a cot in the back. To make up for it, this is a longer post.









Even though the galaxy?s wealthy considered Coruscant to be a jeweled emblem of galactic success and splendor, most of the planet was squalid, grimy, and corrupt. Some would consider it an obvious metaphor for the Republic Senate. The deep, shadowed canyons created by thousands of years of skyscrapers building atop skyscrapers certainly provided a nest for unsavory life. Most Coruscanti lived in perpetual night.

It had taken some getting used to, this seedy, disreputable place. For a Naboo girl born of successful merchants, trained in Theed Palace, and used to the noble environment, this place was her hell.

Though Sabé had developed a certain respect for the underworld hierarchy running Coruscant, she could not suppress her inner disdain and repulsion. Still, she entered the sleazy Scorched Bolt?a hangout for lowlifes, bounty hunters, dealers, and hot-shot swoop pilots?as one of them. Her dark gray cloak provided her anonymity, but disguises were as common as Corellian firewhiskey here.

She weaved through the crowd of sweaty, grimy, armed beings, seemingly to slip through tiny spaces like liquid, her cloak not even brushing against the drunk and sober. A few eyes followed her, out of curiosity or natural suspicion, but they soon lost interest. No one focused on her. Yoda had taught her well.

In the back of the Scorching Bolt were a set of refreshers that were always anything but fresh. The third from the last sported a buzzing, flickering sign reading Out of Order. Ignoring it, she entered in what had to be the Worst Fresher on Coruscant.

If I never have to pass through here, she thought. Trying not to retch at the overwhelming, pungent odor that practically stained the tainted air, Sabé hurried through the door on the far side.

Immediately cool, recycled but clean air engulfed her. She took a deep breath.

?Ah!? A small, lumpy creature exclaimed, swiveling around in a beat-up and patched chair.

Sabé suppressed an eye-roll at the theatrics. Squif had the refresher monitored and the door was unlocked only because he allowed it. There was no surprising Squif, however much he liked to gasp and gape, his large, glistening infant-like eyes popping with innocent surprise.

She stood immobile, waiting.

?Ah, Mari,? he sighed, the whispery black hairs on his dull blue-green skin falling despondently. ?Can you not humor an old fellow??

Sabé didn?t answer. Instead she pulled out a small flimsi and credits and set them on the small, cluttered but clean desk. She never spoke to Squif, never showed him her full face. But he remembered her, as he remembered everybody who made the awful, retching journey through his special anteroom.

Sighing again, Squif took the flimsi and credits. His already large-pupiled eyes widened and he scratched one of his pointed ears.

?No longer taking them alive, I see,? he muttered.

Sabé remained silent. Squif assumed she was a bounty hunter.

?A powerful toxin . . . yes, yes . . . I?ve got it?don?t like to hand it out, but, well . . .? Still muttering to himself, the creature hopped down from his chair, only the top of his head visible behind the desk. Toddling further back into the room lit only by small, cheap bulbs, he disappeared around a shelf.

Sabé waited, her eyes sweeping the cramped ?office.? When Master Yoda came to her five years ago, she would never have imagined her duty would take her here. Just yesterday she could not have predicted she would be turned into an assassin.

Assassin.

Her hands clenched reflexively under her cloak.

Sentenced to kill Anakin Skywalker. A hero of Naboo.

A Jedi.

Squif came toddling back into view, holding a small, cylindrical container

 

*shivers* Sabé's rather creepy, I think.

Outstanding post, Amidolee! Sabé's thoughts and her anguish at having to kill a Jedi and Hero of Naboo have been portrayed excellently! She's spent the past five years protecting the Jedi, even if it is from the shadows, and now she has to turn around and assassinate one. It's rather an abrupt turn-around for her.

But the Force will see It's will done... I wonder... Hm...

Again, awesome job!

AQ

 

Creepy? Not sure how to take that. Hmm . . . I s'pose she would seem creepy, being all silent and cloak like. Which is a good thing, considering I had "Secret Agent Man" playing in my head when writing this chapter. I first had her doing a much more exciting, kinda American action flick exit of the Temple's bowels, but it did not fit continuity-wise with Sabe's limited Force abilities. And I'm sure everyone else would have the Agent soundtrack in their heads. So I rewrote it, and then laughed really hard when I read LoE where Palpatine has the same sort of way of getting from Republica 500 to the Sith Temple of Doom.

On a side note, I love LoE and was stoked (wow, that's almost archaic!) when the author used a water/flow description with Obi-Wan being "in the Force."

Okay, gotta go write now, so I can feel good about putting another post up without getting caught empty handed.

 

Sorry it's been so long since I have been on the boards. My husband and I have been busy house hunting and found what we wanted. We'll be moving within two weeks.

Very captivating posts, Ami! Sabe seems so haunted and troubled by her life and assignment. It will be interesting to see how she carries out her duty.

 

Creepy? Not sure how to take that.

Oh, in my case, creepy is a very good thing! I see it as a mark of a good writer! You've done an outstanding job in portraying Sabé's state of thinking, her emotions, and her sense of duty. She's lived such a hard life these past years and it's had a large effect on her.

Again, excellent job!

AQ

 

Wow, Amidolee, seeing you back again brings back memories. Love this new twist so much! Sabe, having to kill Anakin, Padme's lover. Wonder what happened 5 years ago to screw Sabe up so much...

 

Ugh! Horrid day! I guess the only way to end on a good note is to put up a post I'm pretty much fully satisfied with. It's just a flashback moment, but as you all know, I love me some Obi/Sabe




Chapter Three

Life was just out of reach.

Standing at the bottom of the royal starship?s ramp, Sabé could almost sense the life that must be nestled under the winking, flickering lights coming from the dark, navy horizon of Mos Espa. But between her and that life lay cold, dead, empty desert. She wanted to reach out with her hand and touch the distant lights, but the cold was too vast.

She shivered and her hands remained still at her sides. She knew she wasn?t alone in this lifeless void. Rabé stood just two and a half meters up the ramp, silent and steady. The handmaiden was armed, as always, and watchful. Sabé knew the older girl was removed from the desert night, poised only for what it could threaten. She was in bodyguard mode.

Sabé desperately wanted to be there.

Lifting her eyes into the endless, star-studded blackness of Tatooine?s night sky, Sabé fought another shiver. She knew she was dangerously close to self-pity, but she couldn?t help it. The heavy, feathered headdress she?d removed for this momentary, secret excursion out of the ship still seemed to weigh upon her head and shoulders. Slowly she rotated her neck, but the heaviness remained.

She?d known the role of Queen bore a heavy burden. Amidala smilingly compared it to the role of handmaiden, ?just with more bodies to guard and more people to dote on.? But she had not felt it. Guarding Amidala?s life and courting her spiritual health did not feel like a burden, or even, sometimes in the relaxed hours, like duty. It was her life, whether it was to bring a smile to Amidala?s face, cool her temper, prepare her hair, or, the gods forbid, take a death strike.

Even when she donned the black travel gown and parted her bottom lip with the Scar of Remembrance, knowing she could be dead within the hour, Sabé had not felt the burden yet. Had not felt the lives at stake, had not felt the weight of fate bear down on her. Her heart had pounded with nervousness as her mind raced, but she?d composed herself in the aloof, emotionless mask that the Trade Federation had quickly come to know as Queen Amidala of Naboo.

But landing on this forsaken planet, removed, she felt it. A permanent cold, a crushing vice, a deep void. Amidala was gone, seemingly as far as Naboo itself. Rabé and Eirtaé were no longer her compatriots, her fellow handmaidens. They were her bodyguards, removed from her in a way Sabé had never experienced. Their attention was not just to her physical safety as Queen but to watch for her to slip, to blow the cover, or, far worst, make a fatal decision for Naboo. Especially now with that desperate, terrible message from Sio Bibble. Had she been right to do nothing? Should she have disobeyed the Jedi and taken the situation into her own hands? What would Amidala do? What would she do?

Rabé shifted slightly, almost silently. Come on. Let?s get inside. You?ve been here long enough.

Sabé did not move.

Rabé could roam the ship once the Queen retired to her private chambers. Sabé, as Queen, allowed the handmaidens small reprieves where she could, when it did not affect her presence in the throne room. Sabé could not. Tonight she was breaking her own protocol by wandering out of the ship?s throne room and her quarters when most of the crew was resting.

Breaking protocol for a round of self-pity, Sabé thought guiltily. Her thoughts should be solely on Naboo, lost somewhere in Tatooine?s foreign sky. All her waking hours should be spent on worrying over the fate of Saché and Yané and the rest of Naboo. But imagining her home under siege, so close but so far away, only brought her back to this closer, immediate situation.

Sabé let her eyes fall to the sand before her. Silver in the moonlight, it was even deader to her than the holo Panaka had shown her after landin

 

Aww! A glimpse of Sabé when she had the weight of Naboo's fate on her shoulders, before she had the weight of the Jedi and the galaxy to replace it... Hm...

Loved the Sabé/Obi interaction, Amidolee! Could Obi-Wan have figured something out when she called him by name at the end? Or was he just surprised that she called him by his name? Interesting...

Very cool!

AQ

 

*skids in*

Am I too late for the fun?

Amidolee, one of my favorite writers, and apparently, fellow, "Reinvigorated to Write by RotS"!!! How are ya? I love this story, by the way, and the way it's written -- muted, almost insular. And yay for the Obi-Wan scenes!

Looking forward for more, in an entirely non-pushy manner.

 

Ohh- I found a nice treat

 

Attention, everyone. I had a little time this afternoon to rewrite the next post because it is Bad, and I sat down in front of my computer to do so.

But.

I went and read Yui-chan's Obi/Sabe story instead. It is her fault. Blame her. Or go read her fic.


Seriously, though, I will work on it tonight and tomorrow, so hopefully you'll have another post by tomorrow night. Darth RL has been eating into my already-written posts, greedy bugger, so I'm almost empty. What I have is Bad. I could post it, but you do not deserve Bad Writing. No one does.

Placing the blame elsewhere like a Skywalker,
Amidolee