Beyond - Legends Quite a Tragedy- LOTF AU Songfic

Hello all. My Muse has returned in force (haha), though I do wish these things wouldn't happen when I have to be at work at 8 am.

Title: Quite a Tragedy
Genre: Angst, AU
Characters: Jaina, Tahiri, mention of Caedus
Timeframe: Sometime after an alternate ending to Invincible.
Summary: Jaina and Tahiri reflect on just what Caedus has done to them.
Notes: The song is "Ira Tenax," by Rhapsody of Fire. This song has been trying to turn into a songfic for quite some time, and I can't get out of the LOTF AU kick I've been on...

---

[i]Male sit tibi tenebrarum rex
ab initio ad finem sacra ultio
cruenta pugna et epicus furor
contra mali discipulos

Ad perpetuam gloriam lucis
furor ira tenax
contra iniuriam et ruinam
rabies ira tenax[/i]

Sometimes I watch the stars and wonder what I should have done differently.

It?s so strange to lose a part of yourself and later wonder whether you even miss it. I continually deny that Jacen meant anything to me, and pretend that his death did not affect me in the slightest; in that vein, neither would his rebirth.

I told him this when he captured us. He was dead, and Caedus had replaced him. I remember going into a rage the likes of which I?d thought impossible, completely unable to control what I was doing or thinking. At least that?s what Tahiri told me later- she was genuinely terrified that I would kill Caedus then.

Maybe I should have. Something convinced me to let him go, and sometimes I think that was Tahiri. If I?d been thinking properly, I would have killed him.

He?s the Emperor now in all but name. I hate his continual protests that he ?would never want to be Emperor? and would never even attempt it. I don?t recall much of my captivity with him, but I did accuse him time and again of being irredeemably evil, and something about the Jedi coming for him in time.

Luke would of course tell me something about the light always being able to withstand darkness, and all this other Jedi doctrine that by now I dismiss as nonsense. I have no idea how so much war, so much constant fighting will ever accomplish anything anymore, and I told the Jedi exactly that.

No one is sure whether they fired me or I walked out. I really don?t remember much of that time at all, but I did find myself screaming at the Jedi Council that they allowed years of war to glorify themselves at the expense of the ordinary beings in this galaxy. I left the Council chamber no longer a Jedi, but by whose hand I may never know.

Perhaps it was right that I spoke to the Jedi Council no differently than how I spoke to Caedus. I wished so much pain for him that I?ve never been able to call myself a Jedi since then. We are well-taught to never do anything like that, and I think the Council objected at least a bit to my wishing misery on Caedus from now through all eternity.

I thought he just had it coming and I was conveying the wishes of the universe. The Jedi, of course, thought it was a bit uncalled-for, but they said the same about my language towards them. They normally would be the ones to fight Caedus, but now when I do what they cannot, they reject me utterly?

For that matter, Caedus would accept me as a Sith without a second thought if I were interested. Never mind what I?ve done (and threatened to do) to him.

I received another holomessage from Caedus. He keeps in contact with me, regardless of my desire to talk to him ever again. He thinks I?m not quite right in the head for deciding to wander the galaxy and find trouble to get into, rather than being a Jedi or Sith and doing what I?m supposed to do.

What the kriff am I even supposed to do? I?m conditioned well enough to believe that I should just fight Caedus and all of his Sithspawn for as long as I can stay alive, but that seems like throwing my life away, just what I accused the Jedi of doing.

Of course, there are now Sithspawn. No wonder Caedus doesn?t put up too much of a fuss about being called Emperor; it makes Tahiri the Empress and their son a Prince. It must be nice for his delusions of grandeur.

I recently did make up my mind to kill him.

 

Listening to the song has spawned another plot bunny. That's not a good thing. There's too much to write, already.

Personally, I like the idea of Caedus being alive and being the bad guy. But in my personal twisted world, Caedus would be one hell of a bad guy, not the whiny baby canon made him out to be.

Jaina's gone mad...honestly doesn't surprise me. After everything she's had to gone through, eventually something would snap.

And Tahiri and Jacen are married...and have son. I think that's kinda cool.

I enjoyed this. Great job.

 

SG132:

Stop it. I want this to continue and become a dark Jaina fic. You do luny Jaina better than anyone!!!!

And Ceil -- another fic -- hee! If anyone can juggle seven or eight stories, it's Ceillean.



Both POVs and the song are written excellently.

Bravo!!!!!