The Disciple Part IX

 AN: Here we go towards to the plunge to the conclusion. Only 4 more chapters to go (plus an epilogue? I haven't decided yet)

JEDI ENCLAVE, DANTOOINE

For the first time in weeks, Anet found she was looking forward to what had to be done. She felt almost triumphant, having gathered the lost and hiding Masters to this place, and together they would address the threat of the Sith at last. No hesitation. No backwardness. The name of the Jedi would be cleansed and from the ashes they would rise again as protectors and guardians of the galaxy, not stodgy religious men hiding behind traditions and rituals to avoid the trials of many. Anet felt the ghost of a smile on her face. This moment had been 10 years in the making.

She entered the Council room, and there the 3 masters stood with their backs to her. Their robes rippled in the sweet breeze of Dantooine, and to Anet they struck an impressive figure.

"It is not as it was. . ." Vrook's plaintive voice rang out through the enclosure.

" . . . but perhaps that is for the best." Zez-Kai Ell murmured.

"We were wondering when you would arrive." Kavar sounded detached, and Anet's stomach clenched. Her pride and purpose burned away, replaced suddenly by unease.

"Perhaps you have come for revenge." Vrook said, his voice twisting on the 'revenge'.

Anet gaped. "Revenge? I'm here so that we may ally to address the threat of the Sith! If I had wanted revenge on you, I would have done it all ready."

Vrook stared at her. "No. We will do as we have done- we will wait. There is nothing we can do."

Shock struck Anet. " The Sith are attacking the Republic, and you will do nothing?" It isn't supposed to be like this! she thought furiously. This isn't supposed to be like the last time I was before this Council.

"The true threat has yet to show itself. This battle is being fought through the Force; it isn't about the Republic anymore."

Anet's fists balled at her sides. "You're all hesitating like you did in the Mandalorian Wars!"

Vrook's voice took on a harsh quality at her outburst. "If the Jedi gather now to fight these shadows, then we will die, and it will have been for nothing."

"The defense of the defenseless is not nothing!" Anet cried.

"There would be no benefit to those we serve if we are dead!" Vrook countered.

Anet stared at the Masters, disbelief coursing through her. This would be no different than it was 10 years ago. There would be no action, no plan. They would do as they had done before. Anet felt herself shaking. Where they had been forthcoming and understanding by themselves, together they were closed. United, she felt, against her.

Passion clouded her mind, stirred up old hurts. "Why did you cast me out of the Order?" she cried.

"You followed Revan to war and in doing so, you defied us. There was no other reason." Vrook said coldly.

"No, there was another. . . the war had changed you somehow, broken you. If we let you stay it would have changed us. And that we could not allow." Zez-Kai Ell said.

"How could I have changed you?" Anet asked.

"You already know the answer- you see it in those who travel with you."

Anet's frustration peaked. "Could someone just give me a straight answer?" she yelled.

Zez-Kai Ell spoke to her as one would speak to a crying child, placating. "Have you ever noticed that when you act, others follow? Those that travel with you, they follow you, without question, without hesitation."

"Against their instincts, and sometimes against their common sense." Vrook added.

"You make bonds through the Force, powerful connections, and you do it easily, so that anyone around you bonds him or herself to you. Your actions draw others to you, especially if they are strong in the Force. And when you are in pain, their spirit echoes it," Kavar said, frowning.

Something Mical had said floated through her mind. I have felt your unease, and it becomes my own.

"And that is why the Mandalorian Wars echo within you still." Zez-Kai Ell said seriously. "At the final battle, you were deafened to the Force when the thousands, Jedi and Mandalorians, perished in the crush of gravity."

"Their lives still scream across the surface of that dead planet - and within you. To hear the Force over such pain... it is not possible. It was too much for any Jedi to endure... and it is a wonder that you did not die there when thousands perished, all those you had fought with and struggled with.” Kavar said.

"You cut yourself off from the Force. You did it to survive."

Vrook spoke, and his voice had become sad. "You were deafened."

Through the whipping winds of Dantooine, Anet heard Kreia echo through her mind. "At last. . .you could hear."

Kavar's eyes seemed to bore through her skull. "You were broken."

"You were whole."

Zez-Kai Ell exhaled deeply and his mustached billowed outward. "You were blinded."

"And at last you saw." Kreia sounded. . . triumphant?

Vrook regarded the Exile as if she were dangerous. “When you returned to us, we saw what had happened. You carry all those deaths at Malachor within you, and it has left a hole, a hunger that cannot be filled.”

Anet found her voice again. "But. . . but I can feel the Force again, more strongly than before!"

"You can feel the Force, but you cannot feel yourself. You are a cipher, leeching the will of your companions, dominating them. Within you, we see something worse than the teaching of the Sith. What you carry may be the death of the Force. . . the death of the Jedi." Vrook said, his voice icy.

"But what's worse, the bonding that you have, it's gotten stronger. The more deaths you cause, the more powerful you become, you feed on those deaths. And the more attachments you form, the more you draw others to you." said Kavar.

"And that is why you are a threat to us all." Vrook said, his hand touching his lightsaber. “You are a threat to living creatures, and all who feel the Force.”

“You will lead the Sith here. And that we cannot allow.” Zez-Kai Ell's voice had become hard, and Anet felt panic coursing through her veins.

"You must leave, and you must surrender your ties to the Force." Vrook said, his harsh voice ringing through Anet's ears like an alarm.

"Forgive us, but this is necessary." Kavar sounded almost sorry.

"I can't give up the Force! Stop this!" Anet cried, backing away. Tears streamed down her face, and she hyperventilated, in a panic. This couldn't be true, it couldn't! But as they spoke, the truth of it resonated through her body like a death knell. She saw it in Atton, the Sith Killer turned Jedi...for her. In Mira, who never killed her targets before she met Anet. In Mandalore, who had abandoned his people to travel with her. In Mical. . . horror pulsed through her.

"Do not be afraid. You shall feel no pain- but this must be done." Vrook said, and he voice softened as he stepped forward. He held out his hand and Anet's body froze, consumed by a screaming blinding emptiness, held in place by Vrook's will.

Before the Masters could advance on Anet, however, a voice cried out, a terrible, furious call. "Enough!" Kreia stepped from the shadows and pulled her hood away from her face, revealing her eyes. "Step away from her!"

"Wh-?" Vrook ran forward, perhaps to see more closely the unveiled Kreia, but Kreia pushed him away so ferociously that he slammed into the wall. As he fell, Anet fell, and the world became dark.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THE EBON HAWK

Mical rubbed his temples. Anet had been gone for hours and while she had been gone, his emotions had been in turmoil; first a wariness, then anger, then panic. He paced around the Med bay, reaching for solace through the Force but finding none. Anet had wanted to meet the masters alone, and even though he had wanted to argue with her, he obeyed. It had been important to her. He thought of her face, so hopeful and excited. He thought of her smile, the way her right cheek dimpled and her blue eyes cast downwards, shy. He thought of how when he looked at her out of the corner of his eye she seemed to be bathed in light, even if she was standing in darkness.

His thoughts were broken by Mira's screech. "What the hell happened to you?!"

He raced out of the Med bay and found himself face to face with Anet, and he couldn't help gasping at the sight of her. She was deathly pale and her face was contorted in an expression of grim horror; she seemed to be only dimly aware of what was going on around her.

Mira grabbed her shoulders. "Anet! Are you alright?"

Anet seemed to come out of a trance, but only slightly. "Telos. We must leave for Telos immediately."

As she turned to leave Mira spoke. "Where is Kreia?"

Anet flinched. "She's. . .not coming."

Mical strode forward, leaning close. "Anet, what happened?"

She turned to him, and her eyes met his, burning with fire and yet at the same time hollow. "She killed the Masters. She stripped them of the Force, and. . they died." Her voice was so small, she seemed to diminish before his eyes. A sob rose in her throat but she choked it down. "We must go to the Telos Academy. Kreia is there." Her eyes turned downward, and she left, her steps barely striking the floor. Atton made to follow her, but Mira held him back.

"What the hell happened to her?" he growled angrily. "Did Kreia hurt her?"

"No, I think not. They share a bond through the Force after all." Mical mused, eyes still in the direction of the dormitory where Anet had disappeared to. "If anything, Kreia would have wanted to protect Anet from danger, at least right now."

"You're out of your mind, blondie. That old wench doesn't care about anything except how best to use someone! She's been using all of us!" Atton spat, looking murderous. "She's insane!"

Mical turned to Atton, frowning. "No. She is Sith. . . she is the Betrayer."

Mira gaped at Mical. "How do you know?" she asked incredulously.

Mical rubbed his chin worriedly. "I have suspected for some time. But every time I had come close to realizing exactly what she was, the thoughts would fall from my mind, and I could not remember what I was thinking about."

Atton cut in hurriedly. "But if Kreia is going to the Telos Academy, Atris will discover her! And then she'll-"

"Kill her. Yes, that's right." Mical finished. His head had started to ache. "And if Kreia dies, Anet will die. Thus is the nature of their Force Bond." He pushed the blonde hair out of his eyes. "So I suggest we leave immediately."

He watched Atton stride off towards the cockpit, muttering darkly. Mira followed him, the usual cocky bounce missing from her step. The rest matriculated off to their respective haunts within the ship, leaving Mical alone, struggling with emotions dark as the bleak storm-filled sky above Dantooine. Aside from the fact that his Bond with Anet made her anguish and despair his own, a bleakness filled his mind; he knew what these events meant. He could no longer ignore his duty to the Republic, and there was no doubt in his mind that something terrible was looming on the horizon.

He came to the dormitory to find Anet on her knees, her hands folded in her lap. He felt her acknowledge his presence, and he spoke. "What troubles you, Anet? I can feel your pain," he said.

Anet didn't turn around. "Can you?" Her voice was quiet.

"That is a strange answer. What did you mean by it?" Mical said, frowning.

She turned to face him, and her eyes were pained, filled with agony. "Do you ever wonder why you're with me?"

"Never," Mical said, striding towards her kneeling before her. "I follow you because I believe in you and your teachings. Why? What is troubling you?"

"The Jedi Council told me that I create Force Bonds with my companions of such strength that I impose my own will onto them. I am a wound in the Force, created by Malachor." Her voice wavered slightly, and he felt his heart breaking for her. "They were going to cut me off from the Force when Kreia came. The reason you follow me is because I've leeched your will and made it my own." A tear traced itself down her pale cheek.

Mical wiped it away with his thumb, holding her face. 'Then they do not understand you, or what it means to be a leader. The feelings I have for you are because of what I see, what I hear in your voice, all that tells me you are a natural leader. I follow because I believe in you. I would die for you because I believe in you.”

She shook her head, turning away. "You say that because what I've done to you. . and you don't even realize it." Tears poured freshly from her eyes and Anet stared at her hands, the horror of responsibility washing over her.

"Anet. . . I chose to follow you before Malachor scarred you, changed you. I pledged to go where you would go when I was too young to know what such a pledge would entail, and here I am, not because I was forced to, but because I chose to. I chose you. And I will forever choose you." He took her icy hands in his. "The Jedi Masters feared you and therefore did not understand you. You don't impose your will onto us. You inspire us. You inspire me! If you ask me to leave, I will do it, but don't forsake the company of others as you did in exile. Draw from us as we draw from you." He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it gently then got to his feet and made to leave the room.

Before he could however, Anet had grasped his shoulder. Her eyes, speckled with tears, betrayed a thankfulness, and before he could speak she had fallen into his arms. He held her tightly, wishing he could protect her from her pain.

Later

It was the sleep cycle on the Ebon Hawk, and everyone slept but one. The hum of hyperspace drowned the sound of his footsteps making their way to the Communications room, covered the sound of his tense breathing. Mical had put off his duty, but he could no longer.

He reached the console, opening a broadcast channel. "Transmission to Telos. Patch me to Admiral Onasi," he said, his voice a hair above a whisper.

"Right away," the attending Lieutenant replied. Minutes passed, then the Admiral appeared on the screen, looking worn.

"Admiral, this is Mical. I've found the Exile and have been traveling with her for the past few months. Through my travels with her I have discovered that the Sith intend to attack Telos."

Carth nodded to Mical, as if he had expected as much. "And the Exile. Will she help or hinder the Republic?" he asked, his voice deadly serious.

"She will not cause trouble for us. In fact, she will prove to be an asset." Mical said.

Carth leaned forward. "You are sure? I will not have this rogue Jedi destroy our efforts on Telos."

"I am sure. She has no love for the Sith."

Carth smiled. "Excellent work, Mical. We'll see you soon."

Mical bowed at the Admiral's praise, and the channel cut to static.