#Palpatine over here like: is it really that easy?

[aestariiwilderness]

Acolyte Spoilers #1

Okay so -- of the many, many, MANY things about SW canon that are both hilarious and horrifying in light of episode 1 of the Acolyte, this is the one that's sticking out to me now: So, apparently, in canon, Anakin and his "unorthodox" training that everybody in the Temple yelled at him for has officially now saved Ahsoka's life approximately 1033 times over instead of just 1032. Why? Because Osha out here, Jedi dropout, working for the Trade Federation on a case-by-case basis (who are talking over comms about how disposable she is!) because, and I quote/near-quote: the Jedi skills aren't transferable. And apparently, they don't really teach you anything else, not officially. If you don't have a master who cares about that kind of thing, maybe you don't get any kind of training that way at all. AND, evidently, if you leave or get kicked out, they don't give you any kind of job training, stipend, or post-Order care, as we saw with both Ahsoka and Osha. So that particular fun little fanon sop to the Jedi just died a lonely death LOL. So Anakin, by teaching Ahsoka an actual, marketable trade (mechanics) (why is that the only trade in Star Wars?? Guys, learn some basket-weaving) absolutely saved her life. (Again.) So, to recap: You're taken to the main government-sponsored (literally, from what I can see) cult, the Jedi Order, often as a baby so you have no say in it. There are laser swords, telekinetic space monks who have lived in power for centuries, a planet-city full of corruption, and absolutely no child endangerment or child labor laws. Your "brethren" can and literally do invade people's minds and control them without asking if it's convenient. You are ostracized for forming any kind of attachment; apparently, if you blink in vague confusion while a fascist green lady asks you if you're down with murdering your young former padawan for political convenience, you're too attached. (AND that is a whole hilarious post on its own). Key salient details will be left out of your file to aid in a coverup about your origins. The minimal amount of critical thinking will be done at all times, if you're lucky. And then, of course, if you dare to leave or get kicked out of this utterly Benevolent Cult in which you had no choice in spending your entire life, you...will have no resources, no job training, and be left to sink or swim. And then at any point the Jedi will have free rein to pop back into the life you've shakily managed to construct for yourself, arrest you immediately on the testimony of one (1) (non-human guy who might not be able to tell the difference between one human and the next!), and then get you crashlanded onto an icy death planet and hunt you down, laser swords out and ready to slice and dice you to death. Yep. Sounds about right. (Wait till you get to the human clones manufactured to die, Osha! That'll be fun.) Sooo -- any sane person's reaction to the Jedi Cult here should be:

@clawedandcute

[wileycap]

Beings Suffering From Extreme Sleep Deprivation Should Not Attempt Turning To The Dark Side

There he was. Anakin Skywalker, the prize jewel of the Sith... even if he did not know it yet. Sitting in the office of his friend, the Supreme Chancellor.

All the pieces were now in place, and the only thing left to do was to reveal his identity to Skywalker and let him break down. The satisfaction that permeated the form of Sheev Palpatine was so great that he nearly forgot that his parents had named him Sheev.

But not for long. Distaste prickled up his spine. Still, they were entering the glorious morning of a Sith Empire that would never see night. Or, rather more accurately, the night would be neverending. And the metaphors would be better - he would hire (and by hire, he meant enslave) the greatest poets to compose endless lamentations for the suffering he was about to unleash.

Skywalker sat in the chair, looking listless. The nightmares Palpatine had sent had done their job well - it seemed like he had hardly slept. His thoughts were sluggish, his resistance gone, and his terror absolute. Terror for his "secret" wife, who he feared would die in childbirth.

And while the "visions" were far from genuine, oh, Palpatine intended to make sure that Padmé Amidala would.

With the death of his wife, Palpatine's control over Anakin Skywalker would be perfect. And, in ten or twenty years, thirty even, the boy would become his new vessel. After all, the plans of the Sith were measured in the millenia, and Sheev Palpatine had no intention of planting trees in whose shade younger generations might sit. No. He intended to sit there himself, chasing off the whippersnappers so they might get sunburnt. (He really needed to consult a poet.)

But the creation of his Empire was a far more immediate goal, and a very worthy stepping stone indeed. And since all it would take was a push, he had better get to administering said push.

"Dear boy, I don't think I've ever seen you look quite this... disturbed," he intoned, perfectly miming the tones of a concerned grandfather. "Not - and I am terribly sorry to bring this up, but I can't help but be concerned - not even... not even when your mother died."

There. Skywalker was an easy instrument to play. A veil of concern, a dash of "you can tell me anything." A hint of his past trauma, which so neatly (almost as if by design) connected to his current fear. Even calling attention to Skywalker's sorry state served to remind him that the structures he could depend on were now shaky and unsure, ravaged by war.

Palpatine briefly entertained himself by wondering what the boy might think of the sheer amount of planning that had been put into his fall.

"Mom?" Skywalker asked, voice groggy and wide eyes betraying his shock.

And said nothing more, just gaped at Palpatine, as if he were about to pull Shmi Skywalker out from under his robes. Idiot boy.

"I'm terribly sorry for shocking you, Anakin," Palpatine said, suffusing the room with his phony concern. "I know it must be horrible to think about, especially in these... present circumstances."

Well, he'd thrown subtlety out the viewport, but that would certainly get the job done.

Skywalker did not respond. He was blearily gazing into middle distance. And Palpatine was running out of time - Skywalker needed to fall now, before Kenobi could return from Utapau and somehow pull him back from the brink, again.

So, subtlety? Subtlety would die the same death it always died in Skywalker's presence: a sudden one.

"Actually, I've called you here on an important matter," he said, injecting some urgency into his tone - no longer a grandfather, but a concerned statesman. "I now have every reason to believe that Senator Amidala and the Delegation of Two Thousand are planning a coup."

"Huh?" Skywalker said, attempting to sit up. "Padmé's planning..."

And then his train of thought appeared to slip away again, and he resumed his vacant staring.

"Yes." Palpatine gritted out. "Padmé Amidala, your wife, is planning a coup."

"Oh. Yeah, she's good at politics," Anakin mumbled, offering Palpatine a tired smile. "I'm sure she'll do a good job."

"A coup against me." When nothing more than a "hmm" was forthcoming, Palpatine continued. "And it appears she has allied with the Jedi Council."

Skywalker suddenly stood up, ramrod straight. Finally, Palpatine thought.

"What?"

"I'm sorry you have to find out this way-"

"No, no, this is great! She's finally hanging out with my work friends! Now she'll know what it feels like!" Skywalker shook his head. "Like, it's only fair, right? I've sat through a ton of formal dinners and stuff. And Bail is okay, I guess, and Mon, and Fang Zhar is kinda funny, but... they're so boring. Treaty this, agreement that, 'what do you think, Master Jedi?'"

Skywalker started pacing. "Yeah, but who's laughing now, Padmé? I hope she tries to take them out for lunch. Then she'll get to see twelve Jedi Masters meditating to discern which restaurant the Force is pulling them towards."

He turned to Palpatine, as if to explain. "And that takes hours. You wanted lunch? Sorry, it's dinnertime and also tomorrow, and the spot they picked, which, by the way, is always the one Yoda wants,-" and, to the Sith Lord's horror, he launched into an imitation, "'mmm, great darkness I sense within the Jundland Buffet, perhaps to Stewcruiser, we should instead go', but when we finally decide to go to Stewcruiser, it's closed on Taungsday, and the whole thing starts all over again!"

And at that, Skywalker sat down with a huff.

"Indeed," Palpatine said, no longer able to keep the coldness out of his voice. "The inefficiencies of the Jedi are... vexing."

"Tell me about it," Skywalker mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

"But rather more pressingly, they are planning a coup." Palpatine said, rather icily.

"Yeah, right," the boy said, looking a bit shamefaced. "Sorry."

"It is no matter," Palpatine replied, still eyeing the Jedi. Skywalker made no move. "What do you think about the coup?"

"Oh, yeah, uh. Like I said, I'm sure she'll do a great job. Sorry, I don't really... pay attention to politics."

Palpatine opened his mouth. And then closed it again. "A coup is a bad thing, Anakin."

"Uh-huh," Skywalker said, clearly paying no attention, and that was just about the limit of Palpatine's patience. He hadn't set the entire galaxy ablaze to be uh-huhed by the boy.

It was time to go for the throat.

"Anakin, I'm going to kill your wife." He said, enunciating every word as clearly as he could. He needed to provoke the boy into fear and anger, which would feed his guilt and shame, which would lead him to the Dark Si-

"Oh, okay. Good luck."

"What?!" He hissed. "I just threatened to kill your wife!"

"Yeah, but..." Skywalker scratched at the back of his neck. "I mean, she's been in like, twenty battles. She can handle herself."

"She is eight months pregnant!"

Skywalker actually shrugged. "The med droid said she can keep doing her usual activities for as long as she feels able. And no offence, but you're kind of... old."

"Old? I am the Lord of the Sith, young fool! I possess powers your feeble mind can't even comprehend!"

Something had gone blank in Skywalker's eyes, but Palpatine was far too angry to notice. "I orchestrated this entire war! All of this is my doing! I planned for your mother to die, I corrupted the Tuskens myself, I was behind Kenobi faking his death, beh-"

And that's about as far as he got, because a sky blue blade had just passed between the spot his head occupied and the spot that was occupied by his body, and had kindly suggested to the two that it was time to part ways.

"Chancellor, Sith Lords are a specialty at the Jundland Buffet," Anakin muttered, turning off his saber. He tried to hook it back on his belt, but apparently somebody had taken his usual hook, and the handle fell to the ground. Sighing, he called it up with the Force and shoved it into his boot for safekeeping, when a thought struck him. "No, that's not right. How did Obi-Wan say it..."

And then he commed Obi-Wan, because that seemed like the thing to do. After a long wait, a small, blue Obi-Wan appeared, looking harried. Before Anakin could compliment him on his new size and color, Obi-Wan was already talking way too fast, something about killing Grievous.

"Hey, Obi-Wan, uh. I killed the Sith, but I-"

"What?" Obi-Wan's voice had a lot of static in it. He should really get that checked out. "Sorry, Anakin, did you say you killed the Sith Lord?"

"Yeah, anyways, back when we were fighting Dooku, you said something about Sith Lords and a specialty, and, uh, is it a specialty dish somewhere? And can we go there next time the Council has lunch? I'm getting really sick of Stewcruiser."

"Anakin. When was the last time you slept?"

"Oh, uh, two weeks ago or something."

There was a heavy, staticy sigh from the other end of the comlink. "Alright, Anakin. Turn the comlink around and show me the Sith, and then I'll guide you through cleaning up the pieces of the duelling droid you dismantled this time, and - oh Force, is that the Chancellor?!"

"Uh-huh," Anakin nodded, forgetting that he wasn't in view of the receiver.

"Don't uh-huh me, Anakin! Did you kill the Supreme Chancellor?"

"Yeah, he was the Sith?" There weren't any more words coming through the comlink, so Anakin figured it was safe to continue. "He said that he orchestrated the whole war and he was the Sith. Also, for some reason, he moved out here to the desert, and that's weird, because I don't think it's gonna agree with his complexion."

There was more silence from the comlink. Anakin remembered to turn it so he was again visible to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan appeared to be frozen.

"Are you... disappointed?" Anakin asked, after a while.

"No more than the usual amount," Obi-Wan sighed. "Go take a nap."

"Oh, good," Anakin smiled. And then frowned. "Wait, what do you mean, 'the usual amount?'"

[frostbitebakery]

LOUD.

a Jedi Shadow!Obi-Wan AU

Introspection fucking sucks, according to Commander Fox.

The thing about him is, he’s been made out to be a bastard and ever since their batch found their calling or whatever he’s embraced that role.

Every batch needed someone who didn’t secretly want to be cuddled, who pushed others away so he could keep track of the big picture.

Cody had competed for the role for a while. As did Wolffe.

For Cody, his heart, big and fragile once you got to know him, got in the way in the end. He sees the whole picture, craves it so he won’t go crazy from the losses. But he believes in people and their goodness.

Fox doesn’t.

Wolffe made the mistake of getting the galaxy’s best General. General Koon shits rainbows and glitter, from what Fox has been forced to listen to.

Fox has… the Chancellor.

He takes a swig of water and wishes it were something stronger. But Quin is on the other side of Fox’s desk, reading glasses ever so slowly slipping down his nose while he’s crunching and tracking the numbers to prove the Chancellor is, indeed, siphoning credits off the Republic to giftwrap them for the Seppies.

He takes another swig.

Wouldn’t surprise him if Palpatine turned out to be the villain of the whole story.

Brought Fox to drink with the kind attitude, the cruelty so expertly hidden from first glance, cushioned in false promises and support.

Hadn’t been pretty. But it had been easy. You go to the right places, people are only too willing to shell out for some drinks. Entertainment and morbid curiosity what brings a clone to their knees.

Some found the lisp he has because of the scar that ransacks through his lips and tongue endearing but most hadn’t bothered with wanting him talking.

Some wanted to inspect the changes in the Corrie armor up close and cozy.

If shit hadn’t already multiplied, Organa came flouncing into the Guard offices every two weeks with a new design like they were his little dress-up dolls.

The last design, the one that stayed, had a dummy connector installed in the backplate.

Fox hadn’t mentioned it. Had stewed over how the Guard, already isolated from the rest of the GAR, wasn’t even considered for the neural network that would make them more efficient, more deadly if activated. Treated like scum on a pedestal, overlooked and taken for granted.

Fox takes every advantage he can squeeze from that.

Every batch needs a willing loner who’s got the big picture in his head at all times and doesn’t care for the minutiae.

Fox had been comfortable in that role, really. He saw Thorn and Stone and Thire and the rest of them making friends and lovers and heartbreak, and that was the last fucking thing Fox wanted.

And then came Vos. Appearing from the shadows like a designer nightmare.

For such a short time they’ve sure gone through a lot together.

To the point Vos became Quinlan became Quin became Vos again became someone Fox clung to while fighting fucking addiction and the realization that he is stupid enough to become addicted.

No matter what Quin had said, Fox was supposed to be the pinnacle of cloning and artificially creating the perfect soldier. Addiction is a weakness and fault.

Fox almost did something extremely stupid over that one.

Turns out it’s all part of the sentient experience.

Fucking sucks.

Quin had laughed at that, ugly and bruised laughter, continuing to comb his fingers over Fox’s head. “Tell me about it.”

An eloquent way to say Quin was going through withdrawal himself.

They got outside help after that.

“Hey, Depa,” Quin murmurs absently after answering his comm, pushes his glasses up.

“Quinlan, is your line still secure?”

“‘Course. Especially after Fox got his grubby little hands all over it.”

Fox shows him the middle finger of one of his grubby little hands.

“Good,” General Billaba clips out. Quin straightens up, and maybe Fox’s attention isn’t misplaced here. “Good. Commander Cody was activated by the Sith Lord and he’s bringing Obi-Wan to Coruscant.”

Activated.

Quin is silent. Blinks up at the ceiling. “Can you run that by me again?”

“Quinlan, we have reason to be believe the Chancellor is the Sith Lord.”

Hah. Fox got that one right on his bingo card, at least.

Cody got activated.

As they’ve learned, the neural network - battlefield mediation, in fancy Kamino speak - is activated by a designated Force using GAR personnel. Surprisingly, the status is even an optional display on the screens of every trooper’s vambrace. Or not so surprisingly.

Cody got activated by the Chancellor. Who is the Sith Lord the Order has been hunting.

Fox will deal with that later or never, whatever comes first.

He’s comming the Guard all across the planet, checking the weapons on his person, while General Billaba explains the situation. He appreciates her succinct manner, he’s gotta say.

“I’m on the way to detain Anakin. Mace is following the ship Commander Cody captured but we need someone to intercept them on Coruscant before he reaches Palpatine.” She halts for a brief moment. “Obi-Wan seems to believe the Commander has betrayed him when he knows about the neural link inside the clones. We are fearing the Darkness is deliberately attacking and clouding his senses.”

“I’m on my way,” Quin nods, adds with a calculating glance at Fox, “I’m not sure I have back-up.”

“Funny thing about the Alderaan design of the guard armor,” Fox comments, checking the plasma charge on his DC, and vows to give Senator fucking Organa a sliced fruit platter, “the Guard doesn’t have the connector to the neural link.”

He comms their resident medic next and orders every gundark-level tranquilizer delivered to him.

Cody got activated and is following the orders of a Sith Lord.

Stars help them.

[saphronethaleph]

What's in a name?

“Good, good,” Palpatine chuckled. “The Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith you will become. Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth… Vader.”

Anakin looked up.

“Why?” he asked.

“...why what?” Palpatine said.

“Why Vader?” Anakin asked. “There’s a theme, right? With the names. They represent things.”

“Yes, of course,” Palpatine agreed.

“I’m just saying,” Anakin went on. “Like… I’m pretty sure you’re Darth Sidious? You haven’t actually used the name but there isn’t anyone else you could be. Unless I lost count. And you’re… insidious. You got yourself elected as the leader of both sides of the war at once…”

Anakin frowned slightly. “Huh. I guess that means the whole war is kind of your fault.”

“You had a point?” Palpatine asked, deciding he’d rather hear Anakin’s name speculations than Anakin doing a root-cause analysis.

“Right, right,” Anakin realized. “So, I don’t know when you got the name, but it’s really fitting. Really appropriate. Like I say, it’s a meaning thing, you’re the kind of guy who would do that. And then there’s… Dooku, who’s, Darth Tyrannus. So he’s a tyrant. He’s a hereditary count, and he runs the Confederacy of Independent Systems pretty much by himself. The head of state.”

Anakin coughed. “Right, uh. Was the head of state. Until he lost. Not an election, the, head of state – but, anyway, Tyrannus the tyrant. It’s fitting. And that guy you mentioned, uh, Plagueis… he was doing things with tiny organisms that live inside us. Like a plague!”

“So?” Palpatine asked. “What is your objection to Vader?”

“Well, it’s not really clear what it’s meant to mean,” Anakin replied. “Even that other guy, the one Obi-Wan killed only he didn’t. Darth Maul. That’s a pretty appropriate name for him since he has about as much self-control as a blender.”

“That was actually a very easy one,” Palpatine said. “He is called Maul Oppress.”

Anakin winced.

“Ouch,” he said. “So that was his birth name? I guess his brother is called Savage, so that makes sense, but still… why can’t I be Darth Anakin?”

“Anakin doesn’t mean anything,” Palpatine pointed out.

“Skywalker does, though,” Anakin replied. “Darth Skywalker?”

“You can’t fly,” Palpatine informed him. “At least, I don’t think you can. Master Windu could not, I think.”

Anakin glanced out the window.

“...I hope not?” he said, vaguely. “But what’s wrong with Darth Skywalker, anyway? What are other Sith names?”

“There was Darth Bane,” Palpatine muttered. “He was the bane of the Jedi, of course… and his apprentice, Darth Zannah.”

“What’s a Zannah?” Anakin said.

“I don’t know, it was a thousand years ago!” Palpatine said. “And, of course, Darth Tenebrous, Master to Darth Plagueis.”

Anakin frowned.

“Tenebrous… like, shadowy,” he said. “That’s what that word means, right? Or, obscure. So he’d be someone who nobody knew much about. Is that what he was like?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know much about him,” Palpatine admitted. “Anyway! Darth Vader is a perfectly good name, because it symbolizes how you will be leading my invading armies.”

“...to prevent the Jedi from taking over, right?” Anakin said.

“Yes, yes, to prevent the Jedi taking over,” Palpatine replied. “Starting with moving on the Jedi Temple. I think you are the only Jedi who was not informed of the Jedi plot.”

“What about if Obi-Wan fell to the Dark Side?” Anakin asked. “What would his Sith name be?”

“What?” Palpatine said. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s likely to come up.”

“Darth Filibuster,” Anakin guessed. “But, I don’t know… I don’t think I’m an invader. I’m more of a liberator. Couldn’t I be Darth Emancipator?”

“A little on the nose, don’t you think?” Palpatine asked.

“You called someone Darth Tyrannus,” Anakin replied. “Darth Mancipator, then.”

Palpatine shook his head. “That sounds like a wrestler. Beside, Anakin, I’m not sure you’ve got the point here. The name is supposed to sound intimidating.”

“Darth Murder,” Anakin suggested.

“Intimidating, not tryhard,” Palpatine sighed.

“You were okay with Maul,” Anakin retorted.

“That was his name,” Palpatine reminded him. “Look, just go with Vader, okay? I’m late for a holocall killing off the entire Jedi Order.”

“You can do that?” Anakin asked. “Because… I know I’m under a lot of stress but if you can do that I’m fairly sure that proves all the allegations about you.”

He shook his head. “Anyway, uh… what else does a Sith do?”

“Oh, the usual,” Palpatine shrugged. “Take over the galaxy, build impractical superweapons, run plots decades or centuries in the making to put all your pawns exactly in the right place… kill your master…”

Anakin raised his lightsaber.

“Not me, you buffoon,” Palpatine snapped.

“...who, then?” Anakin asked.

“I want you to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Palpatine replied. “But I was talking about Sith killing their masters in the generic sense.”

Anakin raised his lightsaber again.

“No!” Palpatine said, exasperated. “The apprentice is only meant to kill the master when they’ve surpassed their master!”

“Oh, right,” Anakin realized, lowering his blade. “So you surpassed your master before killing him? That must have been an amazing… wait.”

He frowned. “We went through all the names. So you killed your master in his sleep? That sounds like the kind of thing an apprentice who hadn’t surpassed his master would do. Especially because otherwise he’d be ready for you.”

“Of course,” Palpatine said. “If I’d waited until he was expecting it, I’d never have been able to do it!”

Anakin raised his lightsaber.

“Why are you so eager to kill me, Anakin!” Palpatine asked.

“I solve all my problems with lightsabers and it’s worked so far,” Anakin shrugged. “Hey, that’s what I should be! Darth Saber!”

Palpatine stared at him for several seconds.

“Fine, whatever,” he said, eventually. “Arise, Darth Saber. And learn some subtlety at some point.”

[starlazergazer]

It’s Not Too Late

Pairing: Anakin x Reader

Request: Anakin gets a second chance to have true freedom and peace! Reader comes across Darth Vader for the first time after order 66 and attempts to pull Anakin back on the right path.

Warnings: None, some angst

Word count: 3k

A/N: Only in this one very instance can you fix him! I know the request asks for fluffy but I made this super angsty instead with some fighting banter between Anakin and the reader so I hope you like it because I loved writing it!

You’d heard the whispers, how could you not, though no one was ever brave enough to tell you them to your face. Not that you blamed them. That your best friend Anakin Skywalker could be the famous Darth Vader, Palpatine’s personal padawan, was so ludicrous, so ridiculous, you wouldn’t have let anyone utter the accusation in your presence leave unscathed.

And yet still a part of you knew.

The day it happened, the exact moment it happened, you could feel it. More than a disturbance in the force, more than a breaking of prophecy: a betrayal, a very personal very painful betrayal.

But still looking up at the man you had thought you once knew from your position chained on the floor you felt the last part of your hope die, unaware even that that hope had existed in the first place.

“I didn’t want to believe the rumors” you shook your head at him, eyes bouncing back and forth between those familiar but very different blue ones.

“And here I thought you’d be happy to see me” a smirk grew over his lips as he looked down at you. And somehow those words hurt worse than seeing him walk around with such authority through the empire’s army, more than seeing a new infamously red saber strapped to his hip.

“You’ve changed” you shook your head back up at him, feeling the lump grow in the base of your throat with each passing minute “You are not the Anakin I knew”

“I am exactly the Anakin you knew” he chuckled back at you, crossing his arms over his chest as he sat down calmly in the chair before you, causally crossing one leg over the other “Just finally lived up to my full potential”

And you didn’t know how to respond to that, to his complete acceptance, even beyond that his full belief that he was being aided by the dark side of the force, that it was somehow making him better, stronger. “What do you want?”

“Your base” he answered plainly, leaving forward in his seat to rest his elbows on his knees staring down at you “the rebel base, I want coordinates”

“What makes you think I have them?” You asked with a shrug, watching the smug smile slowly fade from his face.

“Don’t play dumb it was never a good look on you”

You felt your own anger spike within you as his did. He clearly didn’t know you that well if he thought you would give it up this easy. “What happened to being the chosen one?” You taunted him, turning to pressing his buttons on purpose, proving even if just to yourself that at least you knew him “you were supposed to-“

“-bring balance to the force yes I’ve heard it all before” and oh how you relished the anger in his tone, in the way the words hissed out through a clenched jaw, the way his eyes narrowed down at you ever so slightly, you’d always enjoyed messing with angry Anakin “answer the question”

“I’m just saying if you wanna talk about playing dumb, does turning to the dark side really seem like the best way to go about that?”

“Says the one chained to the floor” he pushed to his feet towering over you as he spoke “Now because of our past I’m giving you a chance here, a chance to answer to me instead of the emperor, do not mistake this kindness for weakness” and before you could respond he was turning around and walking back through the door, but you weren’t done. You couldn’t let him leave it like that, couldn’t let him bring up your past friendship like it was nothing more than a bargaining chip to be cashed in later.

“You know I thought we had lost you with order 66” You called out after him “I mourned your death” you couldn’t even bring yourself to feel shame over the way your voice shook, overwhelming amounts of anger and betrayal trumping any and all other emotions within you.

He didn’t even look back as he spoke in a disturbingly monotone voice “Anakin Skywalker is dead. I am what remains”

You shook your head at his response though he couldn’t see it, hating him for the way he tried to hide from what he has done, shelter who he once was from the man he has become.

A bitter laugh escaped you “No, you don’t get to distance yourself from your own actions, you don’t get to protect that jedi you once were by calling yourself a different name.”

His body went rigid at your words, the surprise from your outburst evident in his reaction, it wouldn’t surprise you to learn that you were the first person to ever call him out on it.

“Anakin Skywalker was my friend” you pushed on, spitting the words at his feet “and you tarnish his memory with every action done in the name of the empire"

Anakin spun around on his heel at your words, a dangerous smirk on his face before he knelt down squatting before you, an all too familiar mischievous twinkle in his eye “You know I always liked the way you spoke your mind no matter what” A taunt in his tone, a look that dared you to step out of line “You never really knew when to shut up did you? I suggest you learn”

“You forget that I know you” you taunted back, leaning in even closer to him, showing him he wasn’t scaring you by forcing proximity “you can’t hide behind your charms from me Skywalker”

Still the smug smirk didn’t drop from his face, his eyes taking a second to bounce between yours before locking on a piece of hair that fell in front of your face. Slowly his hand reached out, effortlessly tucking it back behind your ear like he had done a thousand times before. And suddenly you were back beneath the stars with him, talking about the future, upcoming missions, battle strategies, just about anything you could think of to keep him out there with you.

His hand struck with practiced efficiency, reaching out to grab your chin before you could even comprehend its movement, his fingers digging into your cheeks as he held your gaze on his “You will tell me where the rebel base is or I will take you to see emperor Palpatine, and trust me neither of us wants that to happen”

And even though the mere gesture of pulling your hair behind your ear had sent your heart racing and your mind reeling you forced your eyes to lock onto his, pushing down any feelings of familiarity, telling yourself exactly what he had just told you moments ago Anakin Skywalker is dead, he is what remains

“What’s the magic word?”

He cracked a smile at that, still holding you in place for a few seconds longer, giving you one last opportunity to answer before finally dropping your face, muttering a soft “so be it” before standing back up and heading for the door.

-

It had been easy to escape your bindings, too easy honestly, to the point that a small part of you wondered if you had been meant to escape them in the first place, if this was what your past with Anakin was worth to him, a chance and a poorly hidden saber.

You broke for the nearest town as soon as you could, keeping low and your thin scarf pulled over your face knowing it was far too easy to stick out in the empty desert.

You didn’t make it that far.

“You really thought it would be that easy?” His voice taunted you from behind, your body sagging slightly as you heard it, you hadn’t even noticed his approach.

“Yeah honestly” you returned, spinning around to face him “planning was never your forte”

He chuckled softly at that, shaking his head, casting his eyes down to his feet as he rested a single hand on his saber on his hip, looking far too much like the Anakin you had once known long ago. “Tell me where the base is Y/N”

And even though it remained unsaid you could feel the threat in his voice, in the way he glared at you, in the way his hand on his saber twitched.

“Are you not going to ask me about him?” You knew now wasn’t the time for the question, knew it was dumb to press that particular button now, but you couldn’t stand letting Anakin cast him off like this, cast you off like this.

He faltered at your question, his shoulders dropping slightly, his hand slipping from his saber. “You’ve been in contact with him?”

“Of course I have” you sighed, “And Ahsoka, Rex” you let your sentence trail off, hang in the air, let him come to you and ask the question if he wanted to know.

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as Anakin waited, as you waited, only breaking when his voice spoke up, a shake in it you weren’t expecting “are they-“

And maybe it was the way his voice shook, the way his posture slumped, the way those all too familiar blue eyes were silently begging you, but you took pity on him, chancing a small step forward as you finished his sentence “they’re okay. Ahsoka even removed Rex’s chip, they’re all okay”

Another silence hung in the air, an almost imperceptible nod in Anakin’s head as he stared down at his feet, only looking up to chance a look at you when he finally spoke again, in a small defeated voice “just tell me where the base is Y/N, that’s all I need, then I can turn around and pretend I never saw you here”

You sighed at that, shaking your head softly “You know I can’t do that Ani”

He chuckled bitterly at that, going for his saber, igniting it, his face illuminating in red as he did so.

And instinctively your hand went to your own saber, ready to draw it and defend yourself, ready to be caught up in a sparing match with Anakin just as you had so many times before, but no, you had to remind yourself, it wouldn’t be just sparing this time around, not anymore.

You unclipped it from your belt, taking a moment to feel its weight in your hand, before tossing it to the side, watching the sand around it kick up as it landed a few feet away from you. “I won’t fight you”

Anakin shook his head, his eyes snapping to your saber on the ground next to you, a bitter laugh that didn’t full materialize on his lips “I’m not falling for that”

“Its not a trick” you shrugged, opening your hands before you, “I won’t fight you”

“Pick up your saber Y/N” he yelled at you, still holding his own before him, still poised to strike but holding back, waiting “I will not tell you again”

You watched him with a small shake of your head “Ani I can’t fight you”

And for a second you just watched his chest rise and fall quickly as a war raged in his mind, as he debated his next steps, before a frustrated yell ripped through the air and he was charging at you, and you couldn’t help yourself, you closed your eyes, a breath catching in your chest as you waited for the inevitable, and kept on waiting.

A tentative eye opened to see a bright flash of red, hovering just above your shoulder, just waiting there. Your gaze followed it up to Anakin only to see he wasn’t looking at you, he was looking down at his saber. And you could tell from the look in his eyes, from the way his grip kept changing, from the rapid fall and rise of his chest, that he was trying to talk himself into it.

Then a sigh and the blade was retracted, Anakin refusing to meet your gaze as he stepped back “get out of here Y/N”

And immediately you took a step back, your body begging you to run, to put this place and Anakin as far behind you as possible. But still you couldn’t.

“Come with me”

His gaze snapped up to yours in surprise, his eyebrows crunched together in confusion “I can’t” it came out as more a question.

“You can” you tried to encourage him, taking a tentative step towards him “You can come with me now and we can figure the rest of it out”

“I work for the empire” he spoke softly, “the empire isn’t what you think it is, they’re doing good, I’m doing good”

You sighed with a shake of your head, still inching forward, still holding out hope “You, you became the very thing you sought to destroy. Turning your back on everything you once stood for”

“Did I?” he challenged you calmly, repeating thoughts you knew he’d already gone through a thousand times before “or am I still upholding my same beliefs. I vowed to serve the republic and I still do, no matter what name it goes by now”

“You vowed to serve the people of the republic” you corrected “and now under the empires rule those people suffer”

“under the empire’s rule they are safe” he countered “From the time we were children we were told we were meant to be peacekeepers and that is exactly what I am doing now”

“You call this peace?” You couldn’t help but chuckle “How many die each day because of the empire’s tyranny”

“Because of the resistances rebellion” he countered but there was no malice in it, not the same angry argument as before but rather a debate.

“Look at them Anakin” you gestured to the town just before you, at the people begging for scraps outside of the bar, at the buildings crumbling from lack of maintenance “this is the effect the empire has on people”

Anakin shook his head at the sight before him, his eyes casting back down to the sand too quickly.

“Look at them” you repeated, putting more force into your words, practically begging him “Look at what the empire has done to this town, what you have done.”

“The empire stopped the war” Anakin’s gaze suddenly snapped back up to yours, a new defensiveness in his tone you weren’t used to hearing from him “these people are at peace, they do not fear for their lives anymore and that is what the empire has done”

“These people are starving” you objected, trying to keep your voice light but firm “they no longer fear death at the hands of intergalactic war but rather storm troopers on a power trip, bounty hunters, vagrants. They are far from safe”

“And what would you have me do now?” He demanded, exasperation in his tone “I stopped a war, I gave everything to stop a war”

“And now?” you questioned him “you did it, you stopped the war, why are you with them now?”

Anakin didn’t respond to that, his mind churning as his eyes bounced back and forth between yours, not saying a word as his fists clenched and unclenched at his sides.

It all seemed to click for you then, where his hesitation was coming from, his stubbornness, his need to believe he was right, had been right all along “It’s not too late for you you know”

Anakin froze on the spot, eyes jumping up to meet yours, desperately willing for you to continue.

“You made a few mistakes, took some missteps but you can still do good”

“I’ve made a lot more than a few mistakes” his tone was soft and dejected.

“That’s okay” you tried to assure him with a shake of your head “You can still do good”

He shook his head in response, eyes finally lifting from you to scan the town around you “that’s not who I’m meant to be, that is not my destiny”

“Screw destiny” you countered quickly “it wasn’t long ago your destiny was to bring balance to the force and now the jedi order no longer exists. There is no more destiny there is just the choices you make here and now”

“I can’t” he objected weakly with a shake of his head “I can’t just leave”

“you can” you countered but saw as he refused to listen to you, taking steps back, so you forward, without a second thought wrapping your arms around his neck, whispering the words into his ear “Ani you can”

And you felt him go rigid under your touch, refuse to give in, but not quite pushing you off.

“Let go what you have done in the past” you tried to urge him “focus on what you can do now. And right now you can help them. You can help me”

And slowly you felt his arms come up, first placed awkwardly on your back, giving you a chance to take it all back, before slowly wrapping completely around you, pulling you deeper into him, a shaky breath escaping him as he did so, as he buried his face in your hair “I don’t know how it all went so wrong”

“I know Ani I know” you assured him softly, rubbing a hand up and down his back “but now we can work to make it better”

“We?” You heard the hope in his voice and couldn’t help but chuckle, chuckle and fight to keep the tears at bay.

Pulling back from him softly, noting the way his arms seemed reluctant to let you go completely, just enough that you could look into his eyes. “You and me, we’ll make it right”

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

"Peacekeeper" isn't an official job title, at best it's like... PART of the job description, a way to kind-of boil down what they do into something easy and simple to explain or understand. It's also vague, probably intentionally. They're peacekeepers, they keep the peace, in whatever way that ends up being necessary. Sometimes it might mean helping a queen escape her planet so she can get to the Senate and ask for aid. Sometimes it might mean protecting said queen from assassins as she launches a rebellion to take her planet back from invaders. Sometimes it means being sent in to mediate a treaty between two conflicting groups. Sometimes it means going to investigate whether a planet's request for resources is legitimate. Sometimes it means running an army during a galactic civil war.

The Jedi answer to the Senate, THAT is a part of the job description. Pre-Palpatine, there does appear to be a certain level of leeway in that relationship where the Jedi could handle some things on their own or internally depending on the issue, but after Palpatine takes over that seems to become less and less true and so they become forced to simply do whatever the Senate asks them to do more often. We see them fighting against this in AOTC towards the beginning, with Mace and Yoda arguing that they're not supposed to be soldiers, especially not on their own, and they won't hold out forever.

This isn't something we see explored in the films very often, but there's been some comics and books that tell us that the reason the Jedi answer to the Senate is because it allows them legitimacy and resources and power they wouldn't have otherwise. And when I say power, I mean things like the power to actually mediate an official treaty that means something legally. They have the power to send for Republic aid officially and be LISTENED TO. They have the power to help a planet or system join the Republic. Without this relationship to the Senate granting them these things, they're basically just charity-workers doing grassroots work that might help with short-term problems but won't necessarily achieve long-term solutions. The Jedi give up a certain amount of freedoms in order to be able to provide better help to the galaxy AT LARGE. They're not a third party at all, and that's entirely by design.

There's a comic set during Anakin's padawan years where Obi-Wan manages to bring the Republic to a planet by essentially sending back a report implying that there's some kind of dangerous substance on the planet that needs to be dealt with immediately. Anakin realizes that Obi-Wan sort-of "lied" to the Republic and asks why and Obi-Wan explains that it got the Republic HERE in a way nothing else would have and the hope is that, as they're looking for this dangerous substance, they'll be able to provide the actual assistance the planet needs just by being there at all. Anakin asks why the Republic would come just from Obi-Wan saying there MIGHT be a dangerous substance on the planet and he says that they didn't come for him, they came because a JEDI called. THAT'S the sort of power that the Jedi are granted by choosing to make themselves answerable to the Republic. Obi-Wan is capable of bringing a ton of Republic aid to this planet on nothing but a "maybe" simply because he's a Jedi.

There are certain things they choose to give up in order to HAVE that kind of power and one of them is the freedom to just go anywhere they want and do whatever they want as an organization. Which means if the Senate decides to ask a Jedi to be a bodyguard for someone and there's no really good reason for them to say no, then they're a bodyguard for someone that day.

It's supposed to be a SYMBIOTIC relationship, one that only works when there is a certain amount of balance. The Jedi help the Republic maintain peace and the Republic provides the resources and legitimacy and power the Jedi need in order to make a real difference in the galaxy. It's supposed to be, ultimately, good for BOTH of them.

You can also add in some even more niche things like how working with the Republic gives the Jedi a certain amount of safety and security because if they're answerable to a higher power that ISN'T Force sensitive, it presumably makes people less afraid of them or worried that the Jedi will just take over. Attacking the Jedi has consequences beyond just pissing off the Jedi because the Jedi can get the entire Republic involved in the issue if they wanted to, so that can act as a deterrent to people wanting to hurt them. The Jedi gain so much more from being answerable to the Senate than they lose.

The problem is that when Palpatine ends up in charge, it starts unbalancing that relationship and it's no longer symbiotic because he's taking advantage of the Jedi very intentionally. He's putting them in positions that force them to be something they're not supposed to be, he's putting them in dangerous positions that cause many of them to die, and he's using his power over them to take away their autonomy over themselves. And people look at THIS relationship between the Jedi and the Senate and then question why the Jedi would ever put themselves in a position to be taken advantage of at all without realizing that the relationship between Palpatine (and Palpatine's Senate) and the Jedi ISN'T THE NORM. It is very intentionally NOT THE NORM. Palpatine is taking advantage of certain checks and balances the Jedi had set up with the Senate and the Chancellor that have worked up until that point and worked pretty well so far as we know.

Certain people in charge of Star Wars these days would have you believe that the Jedi working for the Senate means that they were always supporting corruption, or that the Jedi got so comfortable that they didn't NOTICE when it started becoming more corrupt and difficult to work with, and they blame the Jedi for being "part of the problem" instead of recognizing that the Jedi were the only ones trying to FIX a relationship that had done a lot of good for the galaxy for thousands of years instead of just immediately abandoning ship for their own purposes.

[dearanakin]

trust you | anakin skywalker: episode VIII

Summary: Anakin gets dragged into a mission with Poe Dameron, while something unexpected happens at the Jedi Temple, where you and the others face the incoming threat. (don't forget I use characters from different timelines)

Warnings: mentions of blood, vulgar language

Word count: 3.2k

previous chapter | read on Wattpad

--

Anakin:

I was on a mission with freaking Poe Dameron. I would like to think I haven't lowered my standards when it comes to the assignments I usually do, because this one sure fucking isn't it. But I was literally dragged to do this with him, it wasn't the first time either, so I know what he was on about. I didn't have a choice matter-of-factly, because I refused too many times the past two days, but he just made me come with him saying he needed my assistance. He also made me wear a stupid helmet, but I reassured my decision and disagreed. 

He works with the fucking Resistance, what does he need me for? He flies a T-70 X-wing starfighter, which is high key superior to my Eta-2 Actis-class. He knows many attack techniques, and he also has an entire group with him flying around. 

Poe was using his comlink to communicate with his partners as we reached closer to find the First Order's headquarters. It reminded me badly of the Emperor, but I tried to suck up the feeling of rage inside of me. It's been years already, what is done is done. 

While the man next to me focused on his own mission, I thought back to two days ago, when I met (Y/N) in the coffee room. I honestly didn't expect to meet anyone there, hence why I decided to get a drink in the middle of the night. It caught me off guard seeing her after what had happened the last time we were together, which made me feel completely flimsy being close to her. 

And it pissed me off that she thought it would be a good idea to bring his lightsaber up after everything he had done before he left me behind. I didn't regret breaking that stupid piece of shit of grip, I should've done that the first time I came across it when she had it in her hands. It drives me insane the way she just trusts everyone she meets, without even realizing how much they can harm people. And worse than that, trusting Obi-Wan fucking Kenobi. 

I can't trust anyone after everything I've been through, after I've been left behind from my former Master. Most importantly, I trusted Palpatine's words that he could help me save Padmé, and he betrayed me as well. My issues all lie around the ones I devoted my life to. 

Dameron snaps me out of my distraction when he finally speaks up to me, handing me a blaster gun. I rolled my eyes, thinking he definitely believes I would need a blaster gun when I have my lightsaber. 

"We're moving forward to attack them, assault their army and gather intel" He removes his helmet, which has features of the Resistance's symbol mixed with a red and black design. 

"Jesus, Dameron. You guys know what you're dealing with, right?" I try to stand on my ground and not stick my nose where it wasn't my issue. Obviously, my body was probably going to boil from all the control I'm holding back. 

"Yes, Sherlock? We've been here before, but we couldn't find them" Poe moves his head to the sides, looking for a hidden place to land, which was pretty nonexistent. 

Why the fuck did he call me Sherlock?

"You couldn't find them" I laughed in disbelief. He truly believes it's that easy to fight against the First Order. "Can you imagine what they're capable of if they find us first?"

He seemed to ponder for a moment, but gave me a reassuring smirk before unbuckling his belt. I did nothing but huff in annoyance over his shitty idea. I was going to help him and his trope, but only because he made me come, and I owe him as well. 

"I've led attacks and been to many before, and they were all terrible people. This is no different" Poe tried to convince me he would make it out of here. Again, my trust issues aren't really helping me here. 

"Yeah, but they weren't Snoke" I muttered and he shot his head back at me quickly, surprised with my words "I can sense the motherfucker from miles" 

We stay glancing at each other for what feels like several minutes, only then he took in what was really happening and how much he was willing to risk himself and his group in a suicide mission. Because that's what it really is when it comes to Snoke. The artificial humanoid was as powerful as Palpatine. 

"You're telling me you made me bring you into this shit show and didn't tell me who we're dealing with?" He raised his voice, almost squeaking with desperation, and I furrowed my brows. 

I shake my head, not exactly catching on what he's saying. "You didn't fucking know we were literally walking into death?"

"I thought we were fighting off Stormtroopers?"

He's really unbelievable. If I wasn't here, he would be dead by now. Poe would've been sliced into a million pieces and would've taken his entire group down with him. 

"Poe! For God's sake, do you ever think before you go on these missions?" I can't even begin to tell how much I'm frustrated with him and his lack of self consciousness. "This is the fucking Supremacy headquarters, it's literally his lair!"

He became desperate and started to communicate through his comlink, letting the others know what we were really getting ourselves into. I swear to God this is why I don't trust people at all. I should've known better than to just follow Poe into the assignments he finds. This is beyond crazy of him. 

I decided to take over the yoke of his ship and maneuver it until we start to lift off the ground, swinging it. The moment we started to leave, the stormtroopers finally made their appearance and started shooting at us. 

It was really hard to find the right setting for the attack, but I managed to hit the defense laser cannon, trying to blast them and take them down. Poe was in a mix of trying to warn everyone, while he shoved my hands off the yoke. 

"You're gonna get us fucking killed!" He screamed before taking control and flying up, far enough to hit the men on the ground.

"You're the one to talk!" I yelled back at him, looking out the window to realize his teammates were still taking off and struggling to fight back. My senses heightened when I felt something really disturbing ring in my head. 

At first, it was confusing because it came all at once. The high-pitched noise started to pound in my head and when I looked back at the headquarters, I noticed Snoke coming out of the Supremacy, walking slowly to the edge of the place. He was staring at us, but didn't move a finger. 

"Pull the lightspeed gear!" I shouted at Poe, startling him. He looked at me and creased his brows. "Do it now!"

He didn't question my demand, pulling the gear immediately and we crossed the galaxy in a matter of seconds. He looked over his shoulder to get a glance behind us, to see if his teammates were right after us. I unknowingly heaved out a sigh, listening to Dameron do the same next to me when we noticed their ships behind us. 

Still, the vertigo and the ringing in my head hit back, and I looked over the transceiver on his  control panel. There was a hissing noise and a faint voice on the other side, speaking words we couldn't understand. He managed to spin a few buttons, trying to tune it in so it became clear. 

"Code nine thirteen! Nine, one three!" The other voice spoke, and we both looked at each other at the same time. It's an emergency code. 

Was that Cal Kestis? My blood ran cold, and I felt a shiver down my spine, and my limbs became numb. I watched as Poe took the lead and gripped the transceiver speaker and spoke to him, I was utterly shocked and couldn't say a word. I started to zone out, thinking about Luke and our groups of people. Even (Y/N) came into my mind. 

"It's the General Grievous' army! We are under attack! Where the hell are you guys?" His voice came rather desperate, like he couldn't fathom what was really happening. 

"We're coming, landing is in a few seconds!" Poe sped up and quickly we were near the Temple. 

"Luke, is he okay? How bad is it?" I was still under a daze, my eyes roaming around the place looking for something dreadful happening down there.I start to unbuckle myself as soon as Poe lands the ship, barely waiting for him to open the doors and I immediately sprint off the hallway of the Temple looking for my son.

From the corner of my eye I noticed Cal hitting his lightsaber incessantly against the army of droids, his face covered in dried blood. He shot me a knowing look when I came over to where he was and assisted him with my weapon.

"Where is Luke?" I hear my strangling voice ask him as we managed to keep ourselves shielded from them. He didn't answer and I raised my tone at him "Where the hell is my kid?"

"He's hiding with (Y/N), she took him!"

"Where?" My hands were swinging the lightsaber as fast as they could, even though I could feel them trembling.

"I don't fucking know- ah!" He grunted and I looked over at him.

One of the droids slashed their sword against his upper arm, ripping a pained groan out of him. I kicked it off and shoved mine against them, beating it into pieces. Kestis watches me with wide eyes and nods when I face him back.

I rush out of the hallway, running aimlessly. I needed to figure out a way of getting to Luke, but I had to think about where she would hide with him in the first place. And I had no idea, given that I still don't know much about her. So I tried the only thing I have to my advantage. I focused my senses and shut down the background noise. A few seconds later, I gathered a few whispering down the other end of the Temple.

My hands were shaking really badly, I thought I was going to pass out from the distress. It was agonizing not knowing where he was and if he was ok. I walked slowly through each closed door, until I could hear shuffling against the smaller one. It could barely fit two people in there. Usually they use force shields so any other force sensitive people wouldn't get ahold of it, but I've worked on mine for so long it can literally overreach it.

"Luke! Are you in there?" I ask, resting my hand over the door knob while leaning my ear against the door. There's still faint noises on the other side. It was faint, but I could hear them. "It's me, it's dad"

"Don't open the door, Luke. It could be a changeling" She whispers to him.

"But I know it's my dad. I can feel it" Luke whispers back, leaning against the door. I can feel his energy dissipating through the room.

"It's me Luke. It's not a changeling, I'm right here!" I try to whisper to him as well, maybe he will sense it too.

For a brief second, he mentioned opening the door but (Y/N) caught him in the middle of it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"No, young boy. Did your father not tell you to not trust anyone?" Her words hit me hard like a brick.

I know I've been clear about that, but it felt too weird to be on the other side of the story this time. She knows how I feel about trusting people, (Y/N) is trying to keep him safe using my own advice.

Again, he shuffled on the other side and I felt his body moving further away from the door. This time, she was standing against it.

"Stay back, and hold onto me" She asked in a low tone and slowly turned the doorknob.

I didn't wait until she opened fully, making myself step into the tiny room as I felt a whip of laser coming inches across from my face. She really needs to start practicing her freaking aiming. I watch as she holds tightly to the blaster gun and sighs in relief when she notices it's just me.

I kneel down and hold Luke tightly against me, resting my chin over his small shoulder. His arms cross around my neck and he holds me back with urge.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" I ask in a rush and feel my hands pull him tighter, almost merging our bodies together. He mumbles a "no" and clings to me.

I have to be faster if I want to get ourselves out of there alive and in pieces. I hold him up and place both of his legs around my waist, looking back at (Y/N) who watches the closed door, apprehensive.

She looks back at me for a slight second, nodding before preparing herself to walk out of the room.

"Thank you" I mumble almost silently when I stare back at her, both of us getting in position.

We ran across the hallway looking for any kind of cover, while I used my free hand to deflect the blasts and hit them where I could. Whereas (Y/N) attempts to aim and shoot them, miserably failing at it. But at least she's trying. I get to one of the giant metal doors that leads us to the underground, where we keep gears and machines running. There isn't really a path to follow under there, giving us time to reach outside the hangar.

We are met with a couple of battle droids, reaching out to them with Luke still on my hold, while he keeps his head low on my neck and his arms still around my body. I take a sharp inhale and decide to pass him over to her. I have to do it fast otherwise I'll regret it. She darts her eyes at me with furrowed brows and a concerned look, but still does so.

She realizes what I'm on to when I grasp the blaster out of her hand and start to shoot them while using my lightsaber at the same time. The spinning helps me get through the blasts, giving me advantage when I finally beat them down. But there are screaming and rumbling on the other side of the hangar, our teammates fighting them off as well as trying to get rid of their attack.

I step forward trying to figure out a way of getting them down quicker, but my plans get interrupted when something blows them up into flames. My mouth hangs open when I snap my head to the left and watch a ship as it fires off another laser cannon over them.

We all watch as whoever is in charge starts to get off, turning the aircraft around and speeding up in seconds. When I look back to the blown up droids, I notice they took down each one of them and the screaming has finally stopped.

We were safe. Whatever that was, they saved us.

From the distance, I see Poe and Cal running towards us. The redhead seems to be a little beaten but could still stand up, even though his face was covered in small cuts and splits, which was manageable. The pilot, on the other hand, kept holding his side, while his head was wrapped in cloth. You could still see fresh blood spreading against it.

"Holy shit" Poe was out of breath, he dropped all his weight over my shoulder where he kept his hand rested on. "Holy shit"

Holy shit indeed. I should tell him this battle is still nothing compared to what he was about to do.

I snake an arm under his body and lift him up, supporting him while we walk slowly. Louise walks past me still carrying Luke as she carefully uses her free hand to rest on Cal's face.

"Jesus, Cal. Are you okay?" She asks him, concerned about his injuries even though he gives her a nod.

Her thumb ghosts over his cheek, and he holds her hand with both of his, squeezing it. Kestis gives her a sided hug, ruffling Luke's hair.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Poe grunts next to me and I give him a quick look.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, I sense something... weird" He murmurs, using my shoulder for support. "I think it's jealousy"

"What the fuck, Poe?" The pilot is holding a cheeky grin on his face, and I feel my jaw clenching.

"Is that even an emotion you have? Is it possible?" He asks and I dig my mechanic fingers into his shoulder blade. "Ow! Ow! Okay, I'm sorry!"

"Shut up, before I change my mind and feed you to the Ewoks" I hear him chuckling, even though he's definitely in pain.

"Ewoks and Wookies love me, you're gonna have to try harder" Poe muttered.

I swat my hand over his head carefully, not wanting to hurt him even more than I wish I could. "I'll handle you to the fucking First Order next time"

He opens his mouth with an offended look and I display a victorious smirk at him.

There are dozens of injured people at the medical bay, it's definitely going to be a difficult job for all the medics, we were probably going to have to ask for a backup. Both him and Cal get assisted, while we watch them leave our sight. I feel Luke's small hands grab my neck, pulling himself against my body once again.

I shift his weight and whisper him some comforting words. He was really disturbed and I feel bad he had to live this shit. From the corner of my eye, I see (Y/N) trying to get rid of the dried blood from her trembling hands. I reach over and hold her wrist gently as she looks over me with a confused look.

Yes, I hate her sometimes, and she annoys me a lot. But I need to be friendly over the situation.

"We're fine, we're safe now" I speak through a comforting tone and she nods.

"Wasn't prepared for all of this" She tries to keep her head up, but her lips form into a thin line and I know she's in shock.

"I know, we never really are" My flesh hand gives her a reassurance squeeze and I feel my skin burn.

I can't handle the touch. I mean, I can handle touching my son. But when it comes to a woman, I just can't. It still reminds me of her. I jolt it back and try to cover up my reaction. Poe fucking ruined it for me. How can I be jealous of her if we can barely stand each other? This is probably a nonsense statement.

She doesn't say another word, holding her body with affliction.

I clear my throat before I choke out another "thank you". She glances up at me again, this time surprise washed over her face. "Thank you for taking care of him when I wasn't here. And for reminding him about trust"

This is a bit of a big deal to me. As much as I try to keep my distance from her, she keeps being pulled back like a damn magnet. I force myself to stay away from her but things always take a turn and we're once again facing each other. It gives me anxiety, and it's not a good one. If there's even a good kind of anxiety. It makes me feel like I'm taking many steps back after struggling with my reality.

I don't deserve someone in my life anymore, except Luke. All I did was hurt the people I love the most, and if I can keep them alive I can't allow myself to be too close to them. I mean, all of them. I don't want to be a friend for Cal, or Poe. I don't want to be a friend for (Y/N) either. This was an exception, she had to do it because I wasn't there for him. But I won't let it happen again.

And what happened today at the Temple was my fault. Whoever got killed or injured, it was because of me. It was because I still go after those who hurt me before. And General Grievous won't stop until he gets to me. I need to work on getting to him first before it's too late for me. I have to do this alone, this is my fight. I won't have anyone's blood in my hands anymore.

Only my own.

@adorbzliz @himesuedi @kingdomhate @cl0esblogg @littlecoffeenerd @readingthingsonhere @js-favnanadoongi @twilightzone24

[animazi]

icl i fundamentally disagree with the 'oh the acolyte shows anakin could have left the order anyway actually so he's so much worse bc he had an easy way out the whole time' discussions I've been seeing, because, like. literally why is this even a topic of discussion? ok ok hang with me here, I'm doing a list.

there is literally nothing in the prequels that suggests this is ever an option for him. up until shmi's death he is happy with the order - most of the problems he expresses come specifically from his relationship with obi-wan not the jedi generally, so why would he want to leave. once shmi dies, sure I getcha. his mum died and the jedi have a significant hand in that, and then he immediately breaks the code and does a massacre. however, and some may have missed this, its a fairly small plot point, the clone wars begin. anakin is not only never characterised as the sort of guy who would back out of this conflict (esp since he was involved from the get go), but also there is literally no time between anything - aotc and rots take place over such short time spans, comparatively; we see quite literally All the events happening at once.

so why doesn't he quit in tcw/rots? again. there is a war on and he is directly involved. tcw shows him as having made personal connections with the clones, and if there's one thing about anakin that everyone should be able to agree on its that he sure has attachments. also, again, rots takes place over such a short span of time and he is fairly clearly not in the best place in like fucking any of it

it probably wouldn't even fix anything bro. anakin is not the central turning point of the war, not really. that's palpatine. with or without anakin palpatine still gets the war, and realistically if anakin leaves the order then war breaks out, he is going to turn to palpatine as one of the only people he is close to, and ergo probably falls anyway. maybe he doesn't kill the younglings but like. shit still happens, jedi still get order 66'd

No Please Understand One Busy And Isolated Woman Is Not A Full Support Network Stop It. ok so. padme isolation is something that I fully see in the films. I will not yap on about that now, but take it as read for this point (although. even if she has a great and healthy support network that is not the issue! you are still saying that padme, who has a very busy job and her own life regardless, should functionally drop everything to support anakin). a key part of support networks is that they are a network aka not one woman. look me dead in the eyes and think anakin and obi-wan (already not having a great communicative relationship) are still talking after he leaves. go on. try. realistically speaking once the war starts anakin is in an, if anything, worse position - his fatherbrothermentor is out there fighting and he cannot help, his wife is barely home, the senate is always busy, and he is so so jobless (again. here is where palpatine would swoop in...bro cannot win fr fr). and Again, One (1) Padme Should Not Be Responsible For Dealing With The Entirely Of Anakin's Issues. stop it.

I don't actually have a full point 5 rn I just like it when the numbers do this :3

so bonus not-quite point: tcw and the acolyte both explicitly say the jedi don't prep you for the outside world if you leave the order, transferable skills etc etc BUT ALSO does your ex-jedi have any records of employment? any space gcses or a-levels or space degrees? a letter of recommendation? are they actually skilled enough in say mechanics/engineering to be able to survive in a world where droids exist and clearly have a huge presence in those sectors? any any money to help them get a flat or smth (not applicable in anakin's case but worth saying anyway)?

in short. I don't think it's a fair point to make when criticising anakin. it relies on a really weird reading of the prequels that misses a) the war, b) palpatine, c) the inherent misogyny of putting the wellbeing of anakin, guy who is hanging on the same thread as my sanity after exam week, entirely in the hands of one woman, d) the lack of regard for how support networks are, in fact, networks, e) how fast everything happens in the prequels

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Fate of the Jedi was admittedly an uneven series, but one of the aspects I liked the most about it was that it showed the Jedi Order cannot avoid political influences.

Now, I strongly dislike Natasi Daala, but I can understand the perspective from politicians that a group of essentially superpowered individuals must be kept under close watch - controlled, even.

I, of course, side more with Luke's idea that the Jedi Order should be free to act as they see fit for the best interests of anyone and everyone in the galaxy. But that doesn't change the fact that there will be many - politicians and common civilians alike - who consider the Jedi to be dangerous.

I bring this up because I think a lot of people approach the Jedi Order as portrayed in the prequels like - well, they shouldn't have been so closely tied to the government. They shouldn't have gotten involved in politics. They shouldn't have gotten involved in the war. They were too easily manipulated and played right into Palpatine's hands. They shouldn't have let themselves get into a position where they COULD be influenced so much by the Republic's major players. The Jedi Order was too close to the corrupt Republic so naturally they also became corrupt.

Now, all of these points have some merit. However, they're also an oversimplification. For one thing, hindsight is always 20/20; but the Jedi, despite occasionally having Force visions, can't operate purely from hindsight based on future knowledge. For another - and this is my main point - I can very easily see any galactic government (and the individuals they represent, for that matter) becoming uneasy about giving an Order of strange space wizards free rein/full autonomy, and therefore insisting on some kind of outside oversight for the Order, which would thereby lead to the Jedi answering in some capacity to the bureaucracy as we see in the prequels. (Disclaimer: I haven't gotten into the High Republic materials quite yet so I can't speak to what they reveal about the Jedi Order/government prior to the prequels.)

Besides this, I think we often overlook the fact that, in the Clone War, the opposing side was being led by Count Dooku, a former Jedi who apparently was now a Sith. Even if the Jedi Order didn't feel any level of responsibility for him having been a former Jedi (which I'm sure they did), it's almost certain they would have been drawn into the conflict simply by virtue of the fact that Dooku was a Sith, whether they were directly answerable to the Galactic Republic government or not. And come on, how well do you think it would have gone over if the Jedi Order had broken away from the Republic and basically acted as independent vigilantes trying to apprehend Dooku during a galactic war?

(Palpatine seriously covered every single angle in his plot. Master manipulator here.)

All of this to say: it can be so easy to say the Jedi were wrong and they had become too complacent and they shouldn't have ever been tied to the Galactic Republic and they stopped acting like Jedi so they got what they deserved... But it is SO. MUCH. MORE. COMPLICATED than that, and taking everything into account it is clear to me that the Jedi, while still fallible (they aren't perfect beings, after all), really were doing the best they could and overall were trying to adhere to their core beliefs even in an impossible situation, a situation where they literally could not win.

[vodika-vibes]

Hi Vod'ika! Congratulations for the followers!

An idea au medieval + mystic au: the jedi are sorcerers, the sith idk warlocks and the kaminoans alchemists who made the clones as mythical "extint" beings (unicorns, dragons, basilisks, rocs, kelpies, thunderbirds, griffins, amphithere, cerberus, phoenixes cofcofnobodydiesinmydreamlandactuallyallarephoenixesaucofcof, pick your poison, etc). So much races there is NOT almost two clones of the same races and they have to teach themselves about their "tics", soul/mates, powers.

...Actually all this was coming to ask you something romantic diabetic angsty soulmatey loveyoubutdontwannahurtyou maybe smutty with some commander but. chop. I let myself happy in the chimerical knighty knights angsty tall dark handsome beings and its 5am I've been awake for more than 32 hours and I wanted to share the idea.

Immortal Flames

Summary: Your life has always been rather…normal. Average, even. You go to school, you go to your internship, you go home, and that’s it. The only thing special about you is how average you are. And yet, three years ago, you were kidnapped from your life by a Sorcerer who calls himself Sideous. And you’ve been his prisoner ever since. Luckily, you’re not alone here.

Pairing: Commander Thire x F!Reader

Word Count: 2407

Warnings: Spice, suggestive

Prompts: Mystic AU

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: So I didn't follow your prompt to the letter, but I think I'm happy with how it turned out. I hope you like it too!

Over the last three years, you’ve learned how to view your cell as your home. When you first arrived, the room had a bed, a wardrobe, and an attached bathroom and that was it.

Since then, you’ve managed to gather things to make your cell more homey.

Books about the world that you live in now. Broken trinkets that you pulled from the trash and repaired to use as decoration. Maps of this new world. Some plants that had been tossed for not thriving, but seem to be doing well enough under your care.

You’re not happy.

You can’t even claim to be content.

But you’re okay.

Well, as okay as you can be seeing as you were kidnapped and enslaved by a sorcerer.

Absently, you flip through one of your many books. Carefully, because the pages are falling out, and have been since you found it, you flip to the section dedicated to the variety of magical creatures that are common.

Phoenixes, Dragons, Harpies, Selkies—

Creatures you never thought existed, and yet, over the last three years, you’ve met all of them.

In fact, you even work with some of them.

Marshal Commander Fox is a dragon, though he rarely takes his true form. He can’t due to the cold iron manacle wrapped around his wrist. He told you that it traps him in his human form.

Commander Thorn is a Selkie, or so he told you with a wry little smile. He also admitted that Palpatine stole his coat to keep him in his human form, claiming that his selkie form wasn’t useful enough.

Commander Stone is a Harpy. His wings are stunning, longer than you are tall (and while you’re no Amazonian, you’re not petite either), and the most stunning tawny color. Tragically, his wings are clipped on a bi-weekly basis so he can’t fly away.

You asked him, once, if having his wings clipped hurt, and he just smiled at you and tugged on your bangs, without answering.

Which, really, is an answer in and of itself.

And finally is Commander Thire, a phoenix. Like Fox, he’s stuck wearing a manacle keeping him from transforming. Unlike Fox, however, there are some aspects to Thire that are clearly magical.

Like his eyes, which alternate between vibrant orange and glittering gold, depending on his mood. And the way that he’s always warm.

You’re not ashamed to admit that you’re closer to Thire than you are to the others, largely because he doesn’t look at you with pity. Fox always looks guilty when he sees you, Thorn and Stone look at you like they’re at your funeral.

It doesn’t make for an easy friendship, to put it mildly.

You look up from your book when there’s a knock on your door, and then it swings open. A small smile lifts your lips when you see Thire standing in the doorway.

“Morning, cyar’ika,” He says cheerfully, his golden eyes shifting to a flickering orange color. 

“It’s not morning, Thire.” You reply as you close your book to slide it back into its place on the rough-looking shelf, and then get to your feet, “You just got stuck working nights, so your sense of time is skewed.”

“I prefer working nights, it means I don’t have to deal with anyone.” He steps into your home and shuts the door behind him. Absently he flips the lock.

After a year of your imprisonment here, you were allowed some modicum of freedom, in the sense that you are no longer locked in your cell at night, and you have the right to lock the door when you want to sleep.

You’re grateful for the privacy, even if everything else sucks.

Thire walks over to you, pausing only long enough to set his helmet on the table, and he slides his arms around you in a loose hug. He rests his chin on the top of your head and you slide your arms around his waist.

“How was your day, cyare?” He asks.

You press your cheek against his chest plate, able to feel the warmth of him even through the metal, and you shrug. “Uneventful, I guess. Dooku was here, and you know how exacting he is.”

Thire’s arms tighten around you slightly, “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Palpatine would never allow it, you know I’m his most prized possession.” There’s a hint of sarcasm in your voice, but you’re completely serious. Palpatine’s acquisition of you involved a, seemingly impossible, feat of magic.

After all, how else would he have been able to kidnap a college student from Manhattan, when Manhattan doesn’t exist in this world?

Thire sighs and you feel his lips press against the top of your head, “You’re not a possession.”

“He disagrees.”

“Yeah, well. Palpatine can take his opinion, and shove it up his—”

“Thire!”

You feel his chuckle, and he pulls away so he’s able to look at you. There’s something soft on his face, and, when he brings his hand up to cup your cheek, you lean into his touch.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” You ask.

“Like what? This is how I always look at you.”

“Is not,”

“Is too.”

Slowly Thire leans in and bumps his forehead against yours, and his free hand moves to cradle your cheek as well.

“Thire?”

“I promise,” He murmurs, “I will get you out of this.”

You blink at him, honestly surprised, and then you sigh and press your hands over his, “I don’t want to go anywhere without you and the others, Thire.”

He sighs, and his breath fans across your face, “Cyare,”

“I have no idea how to survive in this world, Thire. I need you.”

His eyes close, and a laugh, almost helpless sounding, falls from him. “We have so many brothers who can help you. Who can take care of you—” He tries.

“No. I want you. Only you.”

You’re surprised when you see his eyes change color, speeding through a wide variety of colors before settling on a vibrant blue. Vaguely, you remember your old science teacher telling you that a blue flame is one of the hottest flames out there. 

“Thire? Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re eyes turned blue,”

He looks surprised for a moment, and then he lightly bumps his nose against yours, “That makes sense.”

“Does it?”

“Yeah,” His smile is still soft, “It does.” His thumbs smooth against your cheeks, and he scans your face for a moment, “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

Your face heats, and you avert your gaze shyly, “I’m not sure why, I’m just me.”

“Just you is just perfect.” Thire murmurs, he gently pulls your gaze back to him. Quickly, he glances at the clock sitting on the desk next to his helmet, and then he leans in and catches your lips in a soft, almost chaste, kiss. 

You lean into the kiss, your arms wrapping around his neck as he breaks the kiss, and then dives right back in to kiss you again and again.

“Let me love you, cyare.”

And, really, how could you say anything other than yes?

Every touch of his hands against you is reverent. Thire slides your clothes off and drops them to the side, his gaze never leaving your face, as if he doesn’t want to see anything other than the look on your face.

When he drags his lips down your throat, he whispers how much he loves you, how much he wants you to be his.

When he lays you down in your bed and positions himself over you, and you thread your fingers through his hair to pull him closer, he kisses you as if he needs you to forget everything that isn’t him.

And when you’re both bare and he’s easing himself inside you, and you gasp out that you love him and never want to leave him, he smiles at you and threads your fingers with his own. 

He keeps himself flush against you, not leaving any space at all, as he breaks you down and remakes you, over and over.

At the end of the night, as he spills his release deep inside you, and gasps out his love for you against your lips, there’s a minor burning in your wrist, where yours is pressed against his.

The birth of your soul mark, a golden phoenix taking flight.

Thire has an identical mark on his wrist. And, even blissed out as he is, there’s no mistaking the look of guilt on his handsome face.

But before you can ask him what’s wrong, he kisses you and tells you that he loves you, and soothes you to sleep with the gentlest touch of his magic.

The last thing you hear before you fall asleep is Thire’s voice, “I love you so much, cyare. And I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

Commander Wolffe has been having a bad time over the last five years.

First, there is the problem of the war. Second, there’s the fact that his twin, and several younger brothers, have vanished and no one knows where they are. Third, there’s the fact that there was a strange surge of magic three years ago that, apparently, still hasn’t caused anything.

Needless to say, Wolffe has been in a perpetual bad mood for a while now.

“Hm,” He glances at his General, a Wizard named Plo Koon, who seems to be watching the forest around them with no small amount of interest, “Commander, I think we are going to stop here.”

“Here? Why?” Wolffe asks. 

“I have a feeling that this is where we need to be.”

Honestly, Wolffe just wants to go home and see what, if anything, Cody has learned about Fox, but he’s not about to go against his General. “Fine. I’m going for a walk before I bite someone’s head off.”

“Of course, Commander.” General Koon replies kindly, before he turns to another one of his brothers, Comet, probably. Based on the minor sensation of static that makes his hair stand on end.

Wolffe shakes his head and heads into the forest, following the scent of fresh water. If nothing else, he can soak his sore feet in the water.

He slows to a stop as he approaches the lake.

A woman is kneeling next to the water, and though the water almost drowns out all noises, Wolffe can hear her sniffling and her muffled sobs.

He takes a step closer, his sharp gaze taking her in. 

Her feet are bare, though he can’t smell any blood, so she’s either been careful to avoid briars and rocks, or she hasn’t been out here long. Her skirt does have dust on it, but no mud, so she couldn’t have been out here for more than a night.

It rained two nights ago.

The wind shifts, blowing her scent right into his face, and Wolffe freezes. 

She smells like Thire and, more faintly, like Fox, Stone, and Thorn.

He moves to approach her but carelessly steps on a branch, causing it to snap under his boot, and she whirls around. Her eyes are wide with terror and rimmed red, and there are tear stains on her face.

She scrambles to her feet and backs away from him.

And Wolffe sees, clear as day, that if he lets her run off he’s never going to see his twin again.

“Wait! Wait, wait.” He holds his hands up, showing that he’s unarmed, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Now that she’s standing, Wolffe can see clear signs that she must have been a slave somewhere. That, or she was a hostage. It would explain her terror.

She takes a step back, her eyes darting from one side to the other.

Wolffe holds his hands out, and then slowly, without taking his eyes off her, tugs his helmet off. “My name is Wolffe, I think you know some of my brothers.”

Her lower lip wobbles and her tears return with a vengeance.

Kriff.

“It’s alright. Everything is going to be alright. I promise.” Wolffe says as he approaches her, and thankfully, this time, she doesn’t run.

Quickly, he ushers her back to the camp and all but shoves her on General Koon, who is much better equipped at dealing with emotional women, especially emotional, traumatized women, and he makes a tactical retreat.

Later, several hours later, after the woman was tended to, and was allowed to tell her story to General Koon, Wolffe returned to his General’s tent.

The woman is asleep on a spare cot, bundled up in several different blankets, with her soul mark clearly displayed on her wrist.

General Koon gazes at the slumbering woman for a moment, and then gently ushers Wolffe out of the tent. They say nothing for a time, and then General Koon looks at him, “Do you remember the burst of magic three years ago?”

“Of course. But it didn’t seem to do anything.”

“The magic brought her here, to this world.” General Koon says quietly, “She won’t tell me her name, but she said that she’ll tell us what she can about the man who kidnapped her.”

Wolffe is quiet for a moment, “And my brothers?”

“According to her, they’re being held together. She thinks that they worked together to get her out.”

“Why?”

General Koon is quiet for a moment, “Thire is a phoenix, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You saw the marking on her wrist.”

Wolffe exhales slowly. Her being Thire’s chosen soul mate would encourage them to help her escape. Only—

“She was crying.”

“Yes. Thire used magic to make her sleep and then smuggled her out. She’s rather upset about it. Enough that she won’t talk about it.”

“She’ll help us get them back?”

“I think that nothing would make her happier.” General Koon pauses for a moment, “I need you to send word to the Council. Tell them about what we found and what she’s willing to discuss with us.”

“Yes, sir.”

General Koon nods once, “I have to go back to watching over her. She’s been a slave for the last three years and isn’t from this world. She’s going to need help.”

Wolffe watches his General retreat into the tent, and then he turns to send word to Cody. For the first time in years, he has hope that he might see his twin again.

[cheesenames]

i understand why people want padmé to survive and be a central figure to the rebellion but honestly if anakin still got vader'd, that would give palpatine all sorts of leverage over her to try and exploit. the "hey, remember not to tell your evil estranged husband about our plans" thing is a relatively easy decision to make, but alas, palpatine's style seems a bit more "here's a video of me electrocuting him, if only you'd provide some information i'd definitely stop." and it's not like it's a one-time thing, where she decides to not be influenced and that's it. she has to make that decision every single time (regardless of how palpatine escalates) and no matter how much her friends + political allies like and respect her, it would not be unreasonable for them to decide that's an unsafe level of trust.

i am also skeptical of whether she would ever trust herself enough to voluntarily put herself in that position. especially after watching everything she worked for (threw her whole energy into) crumble—if she'd lived, she would really be stuck questioning everything she thought she knew + rebuilding her own identity

if she was desperate to be involved i think her most realistic option would be "maximally bland senator who occasionally conveniently misplaces some money/classified information." if she was desperate to be in the center of all the action, mayyyyyybe if the alliance's structure was decentralized enough she could get involved in a cell that's not connected enough to damage any other cells (or the larger organization) if things go bad

but also the whole "dying of despair" thing didn't come out of nowhere so perhaps, possibly, maybe she would just give up?? at least in the immediate aftermath

[broken-slime-boi]

Crimson’s hand tapped against his thigh rhythmically as he took a deep breath. He wouldn’t say that he was unhappy being here, watching this competition, but it was even harder than it usually was for him to forget his situation.

There were so many versions of himself and his family here, exact versions. Don- Cerulean said they were from “bifurcated time branches”. Whatever that meant. Most were younger, but some were closer to the family he knew. The one he left behind.

Smack!

His head shot up, eyes landing directly on a smiling Cerulean. He looked to where he was smacked at the top of his plastron and found a sticker that said ‘VOTE FOR GHOST’. He heaved another sigh. Well, the relative peace was nice while it lasted, he supposed.

“What is this?” He pointed to the sticker.

“That, my dear brother, is a sticker promoting one of the competitors. Turns out that ‘Ghost’ is a temporal variant of our young Donatello. As such, Mike and I entered us into the cul-… I mean.. club dedicated to this turtle and his kids.”

Crimson gave him the ‘Big Brother Look’, “Donnie… It’s not really a club, is it?”

Donnie made that guilty face that he always did when he was caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. To his credit, though, he didn’t start sweating this time. Donnie opened his beak to defend himself, but was cut short by the newly-familiar voice of Don.

“Hey guys!”

The younger turtle was walking towards them, flanked by his brothers and wearing a cloak. He noticed Mike had a mischievous smile on his face. Oh boy. Were they sure he wasn't secretly a Leo?

When Don reached them, he flipped the hood up and flared the cloak. He was grinning almost ear to ear. “Guess who I am?”

Now that Crimson thought about it, he looked almost exactly like the turtle from all the posters. He chuckled and rubbed Don’s head affectionately.

“Hmm. Are you… that Emperor Palpatine guy?”

Mike and Raphie laughed while Lee tried to hide a giggle behind his hand. Don scowled and crossed his arms, but there was very little weight behind it. “Ha ha. Hilarious.”

Crimson gave him a pat on the shell, “You know I’m just messin’ with you, big guy. That is a pretty cool Ghost cosplay.”

“Also, those shorts are a nice touch, I must say. The foam must be very comfortable.” Cerulean added from beside him, sporting a slight smirk.

“Yeah. They are comfortable, act-… Foam?”

Don turned to the side and looked down, moving the cloak out of the way. Lo and behold, he was wearing a pair of purple shorts that had a foam butt. The words ‘GHOST CULT’ were printed on the backside.

Don stared flabbergasted for a moment before turning to Mike.

“When the shell did you give me ass shorts?!”

Mike bursted out cackling. Raphie gave Don an awkward and confused look.

“Donny. Bro. Did you seriously not notice?”

“No?!”

Mike tried to shuffle away, but Don caught him by the shell and started dragging him away. “You’re not getting away that easy, Mikey. Let’s see what kind of ridiculous clothes we can put you into.”

“Nooo… Don! It was a joke, come on!”

——————————————

Since this au (Brains & Brawn 2^) was inspired by @amevello-blue’s Ghost in the Shell, I figured it’d make sense to make the boys part of the Ghost Cult.

The main gist of Brains & Brawn 2^ is that instead of dying in the apocalypse, Rise future Raph (Crimson) and future Donnie (Cerulean) got sent to the 03 dimension instead. Over time they become the big bros/uncles to their younger counterparts.

Anyways vote for Ghost in the Shell in the @tmntaucompetition!

[connecting-the-stars]

OKAY-Okay-okay….

That did hurt. I am hurt. WHY does the season 2 end like THAT!?

As someone who’s in a late crowd, I would be so seething in anger at the amount of time that’d I’d have to wait for all the shit to be solved in the next season. It really leaves such a dreadful note and kinda definitely depressing.

I’m over here like - yeah I know My Main Man Tech is gonna “kick the bucket” but I’ll be fine - I AM NOT FINE!

Bruh him sacrificing himself, Wrecker refusing to let him go, Omega being injured to have to remember his fall all over again, everyone is Big Sad and then Omega refuses to follow orders and tries to save Hunter and Wrecker to then have her be taken anyway! And Crosshair just lying unresponsive! It’s 28 minutes… My life was ruined in that span.

It’s definitely giving fighting a losing battle. Man, that was not an easy watch, everything just crumbles around them just as hunter has decided to go through with the plan to retire at Pabu too! It’s defeating in every sense of the word, but Star Wars is about hope persevering - (S3 please give me hope in the end!)

Seeing Cid have this regret about herself and I’m like “shut it! SHUT IT!” I guess it’s fine to show characters have remorse but she’s pouting as if the situation isn’t entirely her fault.

Seeing Wrecker in that neck brace and on his knees surrounded by the soldiers - my heart like sunk. The writers went after the character thats always been shown to overcome overwhelming amounts of soldiers and this time he can’t.

- I’ve seen some perspectives that point out that going on this mission to place a tracker on Hemlock’s ship was mute, like it was an excuse to give Tech his Hero Moment and kill him. But I don’t want to believe that the writers who put so much emphasis on his growth this season would make this his end. In the end, his actions prove Omega’s initial misassumptions wrong. “Doesn’t act like he cares.” He down write was the one to double check if crosshair was actually a prisoner, he fully supported the plan of getting his brother out. He reminds Hunter that Crosshair is still their brother, he has shown his care for Omega, and his growing connection to Phee - improving in places where his wealth of knowledge does not support him. I know the mission failed, that hemlock’s ship was never tracked and Crosshair is still very much a prisoner, but I don’t think it’s in vain. At least to me, his death almost certainly feels not permanent.

- Hemlock looks for Tech’s body and retrieves his shattered goggles, uses them as a tool to force Hunter to bend his knee. Use this emotional leverage to make hunter doubt himself and increase the fear of losing another brother. This ploy turns my head because hemlock has been shown to be quite determined and unshakable in his quest for completing his project for palpatine, of course he wants to capture Omega at any means, but he is also working with his unsightly experiments. The adult sized green tubes that held all sorts of people when Omega found Crosshair. I don’t find it hard to believe that he knew exactly how to pressure the bad batch in order to get them to surrender and he took a gravely injured Tech as his latest project. The head scientist in charge of this doomsday-esc lab facility on the planet that can’t be found, the scientist that brought back the Zillo Beast. He’s the one who seems to eventually be able to create clones with enough M-count for the emperor. If he got his hands on a member of a genetically enhanced clone group, it’s like a holiday present, of course he’d take them as another tool in his arsenal to ensure his mission and impose his control over the clones.

#Techisalivetruther

Also it was uncalled for when they played “when do we ever follow orders” his last words to open the recap of season 2 for season 3. (This literally made me have some inhuman miserable noise escape me)

(Many have pin pointed this behavior and I agree) But this also give me pause because the bad batch DOESNT follow orders! Who else doesnt follow orders well? >:D

[al-astakbar]

I have a story idea for the Chiss “companion” of Thrawn. She was a navigator for one of there ships and they were sent to explore. Someone or something destroyed the ship and the Chiss reader was the only survivor but the attack left them with memory loss. Being found by the republic or separatists they were taken and now they are where they are now.

i'm sorry for taking so long to reply but i love this idea!! adding the element of force sensitivity (you mean the Chiss reader is a sky-walker, right?)

i feel like the reader being a Chiss might make Thrawn go easy on her… like he would respect her more, or be more protective, so it could be a real slow burn. although i do think Thrawn would really be touch starved after 10 lonely years. like yeah maybe he's had an encounter here or there but no intimacy. and suddenly the Empire has literally issued him a companion for exactly that purpose.

so anyway, with the reader being a navigator but not knowing it?? Thrawn would totally figure it out first… but not tell her right away. it would be a conflict for him knowing that he now has her as basically a resource, like a secret weapon. a force-sensitive girl that nobody except him knows is force-sensitive. but also, he would be doing the same thing as the sky-walker program, just using Chiss girls without regard for their autonomy. i am really not sure he would be self aware enough to realize his hypocrisy, or if he did, he would justify it to himself somehow. HIs younger self, back in the Ascendancy, might be forthright with her, but after 10 years with the Empire, as an older and jaded man who has been given power and command, i do think at that point he is quite ruthless and his pragmatism would win out over tender feelings… at least at first.

can you imagine though, Thrawn feeling like he has to do everything he can to help her have a sense of her Chiss identity and her absolutely not being interested. teaching her Cheunh (she'd be a brat about it and refuse to study).

oh and if she's force sensitive he would have to protect her and keep her secret from palpatine and vader... hmmm. i may need to write this lol

[mwolf0epsilon]

The Umbaran Pathogen - Day 31: PTSD/Crying

Summary: The war is coming to an end, and the vode's lives are ready to truly begin. It's not going to be easy for some of them to climb back out of rock bottom, however. Still, better to have hope than to give in to despair.

Warning: Mentions of a violent death via shotgun to the face (Palpatine never saw it coming) & a brief mention of an attempted suicide (I'm sure you can guess who tried).

Twitch belongs to @gaeasun

Here's what Tup and Dogma currently look like!

Prev / END

[In which the events on Umbara are worsened by an unknown pathogen taking hold of both the 501st and 212th. These series of drabbles will follow a non-linear timeline based on the AI-less Whumptober prompt list for 2023.]

THIS STORY IS ALSO ON AO3

---

"Hardcase, be more careful!"

"I AM being careful!"

A lot had changed in a month, but honestly that hadn't really come as much of a surprise. After departing from Umbara, both the troopers of the 501st and 212th had been prepared for things to never quite be the same ever again. Had all anticipating that their surrender, would bring with it both terrible consequences and many alterations in the order of things.

That said, they hadn't really foreseen something quite like the spectacle that had gone down between the Senate and the Coruscant Guard...

Now, If anyone asked Kix for his humble opinion on the matter (which, much to his chagrin, people rarely did), it honestly felt like what transpired had been something that had been a long time in the making. And, the more he thought about it (the more he really dug through his brain), the less certain aspects of GAR to Guard relations felt like mere happenstance...

Not one singular clone trusted a politician as far as they could throw them. Were fully aware that natborns in positions of power were often wont to abuse said power with reckless abandon, unless they were simply just made different (like senator Organa for example, a man so surrounded by wealth and yet so humble and kind, that it left you scratching your head).

Yet, many a time while on leave, there had been some rather bizarre exchanges between frontline and homefront troopers. Accusations of luxurious pampered lives that boggled the mind. Ideas that came from seemingly nowhere and that caused strife between the GAR soldiers and the Guardsmen.

Transgressions that had caused a rift between vode...

No one had ever really stopped to think about who had started those baseless rumors. No one really felt the need to, because shore leave on Triple Zero was rather finite, and at the end of the day it was better to just party until you didn't have time to party at all. Live a little.

Now that the proverbial rose-tinted glasses had been lifted off their faces however, they were suddenly more than a little aware that it had not been a vod who'd started the dispute between the GAR and Guard. No. The real culprit behind that had been the Sith Lord that Commander Fox had brutally murdered during a Senate Meeting.

Caught the bastard by surprise with a sawed-off shotgun that he'd confiscated during a drug bust. The footage was both shocking and quite glorious to behold, especially considering Palpatine's brain matter had splattered every single prissy senator that had been arguing over this or that at the time. Their pods in range of the gory splash-zone.

Unsurprisingly, Commander Fox had been apprehended and taken to prison. His own men had come to take him away, simply requesting that he give up his weapon and present them with his hands, so that he could be cuffed and leisurely strolled past all the shocked and hysterical natborns with almost smug satisfaction.

The Guard had been in no uproar about the death of the head of state. If anything, they rejoiced over it. Even if they had to keep up appearances and drop their commanding officer in prison, until someone came in to look for a motive for his rather unexpected act of treason.

The piles upon piles of damning evidence, as well as some kind of mystical shift in the Force itself (or whatever), had certainly been enough to more than justify the Marshal Commander's actions. Not enough to get him out of prison immediately, but enough to substantially reduce his sentence by a crap ton of years.

All things considered, 3 months for murdering the Chancellor wasn't too bad. Commander Fox even seemed to snort at the humor of it all. Had graciously accepted his first ever vacation with a gleeful grin.

Things were honestly better now.

With Palpatine revealed as the Sith Lord that had been playing both sides of the war, General Kenobi expressing the absolute importance of strengthening mental health care among the Jedi and troopers, and General Skywalker finally relenting and accepting a trip to the Mind Healers after he and General Kenobi had a heart to heart, the lives of many had definitely improved.

They had a new Chancellor that strongly believed in a more diplomatic approach, rather than prioritizing securing power for himself, so the war was nearly completely wrapped up. Many members of the Senate and CorSec were undergoing sackings and sanctions, after an extensive investigation revealed corruption, abuse and even quite a fair share of illegal endeavors. The GAR and Guard were being permitted a deliciously extensive shore leave so that they might all recuperate properly. And General Ti and the Alpha Class were currently working on moving every single trooper, cadet and tubie off Kamino into various Jedi Corporation locations, after they'd won a very tense legal battle that would ensure the freedom of all vode.

Life was impossibly good.

"Kix, tell him to stop!"

"Hey, don't drag Kix into this!"

"Then stop trying to stride like you're not as wobbly on your legs as a newborn fathier!!!"

Rolling his eyes, the medic smiled fondly as he watched Dogma try to keep up with Hardcase, who'd recently been allowed to move around without the aid of a hoverchair. Provided he used crutches.

Hardcase being Hardcase, had taken to over-swinging to take bigger and faster strides than what he should. His balance still not quite what it used to be, but his confidence remaining virtually untouched by his harrowing experiences. And that caused the mutated sergeant a fair bit of anxiety, considering he was currently taking a few modules to properly help around the medbay (seeing as he spent so much time in there anyway to keep an eye on Tup, they'd decided he'd make a fine reserve medic).

"Casey, stop scaring our kih'vod..." He chastised lightly, doing nothing to really stop his batcher. When Hardcase was full of energy, it was often better to let him get it out of his system, than to try to force him to sit still.

"I'm not trying to! I'm just glad to be able to run around again!" Hardcase whined, giving the medic a mighty pout unbecoming of a decorated soldier. "The hoverchair was nice and all, but my skin felt like I was on fire just having to sit all day..."

"Your skin felt like it was on fire because you're covered head to toe in burn scars." Dogma huffed, rolling his head to the side to show that he was actually rolling his eyes.

He'd begun to use more obvious body language to compensate for some of his physical alterations. A suggestion Twitch had made once it came to light how difficult it had been for him to approach other vode. Especially after what had happened on Umbara.

"Badass burn scars you mean." Hardcase grinned.

"You're smiling right now, but once you have to put on your cream, and start complaining that you're constantly cold, it won't feel nearly as badass..." Dogma grumbled and stamped his foot, his gaster and wings briefly twitching as a result of the sudden movement. "Although, that said, at least the sweaters and loose pants work on you... We still haven't found a material that won't pinch on Echo's cybernetics, and that won't irritate him because of the texture..."

"I still think they should use the same stuff they got for our buggy vode's clothing." Hardcase pointed out, motioning towards Dogma's heavily modified clothes. "Least then the join issues would be sorted."

Another thing that had recently happened had been Echo's discovery and rescue. The details were a little vague, but those who asked were told that a whistleblower had sent some rather incriminating footage of one of the Techno Union's projects. A project pertaining the conversion of a POW into some kind of algorithmic weapon.

To put a long story short, Echo was back. Changed, traumatized and not exactly in one piece. But back. Fives had been nothing if not a wreck of emotions since, and was now helping his twin through a much more steeper hill of recovery while he himself tried to process his own feelings over the matter.

The PTSD that Echo suffered alone, would be a massive challenge to overcome. But it was one he wouldn't be forced to endure on his own.

And Kix was honestly grateful for the medbay to be so full of movement that did not involve recent injuries. Fives, Echo, Hardcase and Dogma's semi-permanent company, gave him something to focus on and work with instead of stewing away in negative thoughts. Especially about things he was nowhere near qualified enough to handle, but that both he and his fellow medics were working around the clock to educate themselves on and further improve treatment plans...

The shrill beep of his comm startled Kix out of his thoughts.

Looking down at his comm unit, he hummed in slight surprise as he read the name of the contact. Twitch was calling him. He wondered what the younger medic needed that he'd call him through comms instead of coming to get him instead.

That was a little unusual.

"Kix here, what's--"

"There's a situation!"

Almost immediately his good humor plummeted. Things had slowed down considerably in terms of medical duties, yes. But that didn't mean they didn't get the occasional incident. And if Twitch was calling him sounding this stressed, then something bad had definitely happened while he'd been accompanying Hardcase and Dogma to the mess hall.

"How bad?" he spared no time with formalities. He had to know what he was going to walk in on.

"It's Tup!" Twitch cried out. "He's woken up! But something's wrong Kix, he went crazy and bolted!"

"Tup?!" Mentally cursing Dogma's improved hearing, Kix barely had the time to rush over to Hardcase to grab a hold of his brother before the mutated sargeant darted off, knocking him slightly off balance.

"Dogma's on his way, I'll be there once I drop 'Case off."

"I'll comm the Captain. He's probably already on his way from visiting Commander Fox." Twitch gulped. "I'll... I'll comm Pitch and Sponge too. To warn them! They're still very skittish around Dogma. Seeing Tup back on his feet without prior warning might freak them out!"

"You do that. Kix out."

-

Dogma's heart was racing as he tried to track down his wayward brother. Cursing himself in at least three different languages as he sprinted down the hall on all six legs, for having been gone from the medbay as long as he had.

He'd stood vigil by Tup's bedside from the moment he'd been told his brother was in a coma. Watched over him day after day while awaiting patiently for the moment he might finally come out of it. To think Tup had indeed woken up, and that he hadn't been there when he'd needed him most...

It made him feel awful.

And selfish too, since he'd recently been spending time around the other vode. Focusing on bonding with them rather than sitting with his slumbering twin.

He still spent the great majority of his time in the medbay, of course. Was even making himself useful and learning to be a proper medic too! But a part of him had still longed for the companionship that Tup had temporarily been unable to provide him.

After all he hadn't been much for conversation in the past month...

Still, guilt-ridden or not over this slight mishap, Dogma didn't have the time to continuously kick himself over what he could have done better. He had to find Tup before he either hurt himself or scared someone half to death.

To tell the truth, he had no idea where the other might have gone. They were twins, sure, and they did know each other better than the back of their own hands. But that didn't mean they were mind readers. In fact, they were very different from each other and had very different ideas of what was or wasn't a fun time, and which places were the best for them to hide in when they were overwhelmed.

But, even if they didn't spend a day or two together, they always found their way back to one another. Full of tales to tell and chatter to fill the void as they relaxed.

Dogma's fingers deftly untangling his brother's long locks, and braiding them into interesting configurations. Tup's soothingly soft voice calming him as he recounted what he'd gotten up to in his absence.

No matter where Tup had gone, even if it were somewhere unexpected, Dogma would inevitably find him.

Luckily he did have something to work with that he hadn't had before, when he'd been fully human. An astonishingly acute sense of smell and a scent trail that he could follow so long as it was nice and fresh. And, given the fact Tup had only just woken up and come through, the trail was indeed very fresh.

It just bothered him where exactly on base it was leading him to...

There was no way in sith-hells that his brother would have stumbled into the firing range on accident. Especially if one were to take into consideration Dogma's own reaction to waking up after his parasite had been removed.

He just hoped the weapons lockers had all been tightly padlocked.

"Tup...?" pausing at the door that led to his destination, Dogma grimaced as he noted something quite jarring.

In his haste he hadn't really noticed it before, but there were scratches all over the duracrete and walls. Scratches that looked suspiciously like uneven numbered claw marks. And both the door to the firing range and the keypad were in pretty bad shape. Like something had tried to bash the former down before simply destroying the keypad.

When that hadn't worked, whatever (or rather, whoever) had attacked the door had simply smashed through the wall like it wasn't made of dense sturdy building materials. Although, given the nature of their alterations, to them it really wasn't that big of a deal anymore.

Dogma braced himself for the worst before climbing through the hole in the wall. And, fortunately, he hadn't walked into a bloodbath. Although the situation was still not ideal. If anything, it was heartbreaking to see his twin in the state he was in.

"Oh Tup..." Dogma's antennae drooped, expression pinched as he approached his brother.

The other was curled up on the floor, long tail coiled tightly around himself as he tried to look as small as possible. All around him were several blasters that had been smashed to pieces. Likely because his pincers were simply too strong to hold a weapon with so many delicate parts anymore. The few destroyed vibroblades that he'd also tried to take a hold of, hadn't fared any better...

It was lucky that, in his state of despair, Tup hadn't thought to use his own in-built weapons against himself. Otherwise Dogma really might have just been walking in on a cooling corpse.

"Tup..." Kneeling down before his weeping brother, Dogma tried to reach for his face to dry some of his tears like he used to do when they were cadets. Only to be pushed away in response to the attempted contact. "Tup please..."

"N̸O̸!̵" Coiling himself even more tightly (if that was even possible) the long-haired mutant wailed pitifully. His tail beginning to thrash erratically as he tried to will himself into invisibility.

And wouldn't that be a useful ability right now?

"Tup it's ok..."

"N̵O̸ ̴I̶T̶'̵S̷ ̵N̷O̸T̶!̵ ̶I̸'̴M̵ ̵A̵ ̶M̴O̵N̵S̶T̴E̷R̸!̸" Tup screeched, his clumsy limbs fumbling slightly as he tried to push himself away from Dogma. Away from any efforts to comfort him. "I̶T̷'̵S̴ ̸N̶O̴T̷ ̴S̶A̶F̴E̷ ̶T̶O̴ ̷B̵E̶ ̶A̵R̸O̷U̷N̷D̶ ̸M̸E̴!̷"

"You're not a..." Dogma shook his head, trying to keep his face neutral in spite of Tup's words. "It's out. You're not dangerous anymore... The parasite's out."

"U̸R̶G̶H̵!̶ ̸Y̴O̸U̵ ̶D̸O̶N̵'̶T̶ ̶G̵E̴T̵ ̶I̴T̵ ̵D̴O̶ ̴Y̶O̸U̸?̶!̴" Tup looked up. His face wasn't blotchy like it used to get when he cried. The scales on his face didn't change color like regular skin, and the mandibles at the side of his mouth and fang-like scale plating made it difficult to read his expressions. The way his brow was furrowed and his eyes shone with pure anguish was all Tup however. Very familiar to him. "A̷l̵l̵ ̷o̵f̶ ̸t̶h̷a̸t̶.̷.̵.̸ ̴A̶l̶l̷ ̸o̷f̸ ̴t̴h̶o̵s̵e̶ ̵t̶h̵i̶n̸g̷s̷ ̵I̵ ̸d̵i̷d̶ ̷t̴o̶ ̸y̷o̴u̶,̶ ̷t̸o̷ ̶e̸v̵e̶r̷y̵o̸n̴e̵.̸.̶.̴ ̵I̸T̴ ̴W̵A̵S̶ ̴A̷L̷L̸ ̷M̶Y̴ ̶F̸A̸U̵L̷T̸!̴!̵!̶"

"It wasn't."

"I̵T̸ ̵W̷A̶S̷!̶ ̵I̵ ̷L̴E̶T̴ ̵T̵H̴A̶T̷ ̴T̴H̷I̵N̷G̸ ̴U̴S̷E̵ ̴M̷E̷!̴!̴!̵" Tup roared, jumping up into a proper standing position and using his height to tower over Dogma with ease. "̷I̷T̴ ̶F̶E̶L̴T̴ ̶G̷O̴O̴D̸!̴ ̴H̴A̴V̷I̷N̶G̸ ̵A̶L̵L̶ ̴O̶F̷ ̷Y̸O̸U̵ ̴U̵N̶D̵E̷R̸ ̷M̵Y̴ ̶C̶O̶N̵T̸R̷O̴L̶!̶ ̸A̸S̶ ̸M̶Y̸ ̶S̶E̶R̸V̷A̵N̶T̷S̷,̵ ̴M̸Y̴ ̵P̴L̷A̸Y̴ ̸T̸H̸I̴N̸G̴S̷.̵.̶.̸ ̶I̴T̴ ̴F̵E̷L̵T̶ ̴S̵O̶ ̷K̶A̸R̷K̵I̸N̵G̸ ̷G̷O̵O̶D̶!̵ ̵I̶ ̶W̶A̸N̶T̸E̶D̷ ̸I̷T̷!̷ ̷I̸ ̵W̷A̵N̸T̴E̵D̷ ̸M̴O̶R̶E̵!̵"

"No it wasn't!" Dogma stood up as well, refusing to be intimidated even if his heart was starting to race once more.

The fear, sorrow and anger he could smell coming off of his twin in waves, making it so hard for him to concentrate on his own actual emotions.

Despite no longer being under the parasites's control, Dogma's body was still wired to respond to Tup's emotional responses. Karking pheromones...

"I̵T̸ ̷W̶A̶S̵!̴!̶!̷!" Tup reared up suddenly like a startled fathier. Standing on his two back legs and kicking the front ones slightly. Dogma backed away immediately, afraid the other might hit him accidentally on the way back down. With how upset Tup was, lashing out was not out of the question. "A̴L̷L̶ ̷T̷H̴A̵T̷ ̵T̸H̶I̵N̸G̵ ̵D̶I̵D̵ ̸W̸A̷S̸ ̴B̵R̶I̵N̸G̵ ̸I̶T̴ ̷O̵U̷T̸ ̵O̵F̷ ̷M̶E̸!̵ ̷A̴L̶L̴ ̷T̷H̸E̶ ̵B̷A̸D̵ ̷T̶H̶I̴N̵G̶S̷!̶!̷!̴"

Oh, that certainly wouldn't fly. No one was allowed to slander his brother. Not even the stubborn idiot himself.

"STOP LYING TO YOURSELF JUST BECAUSE YOU FEEL GUILTY OVER SOMETHING YOU HAD NO CONTROL OVER! I KNOW IT WASN'T ALL YOU BECAUSE I KNOW YOU TUP! BETTER THAN YOU KNOW YOURSELF, APPARENTLY!!!" Dogma roared back, letting his temper rule him for once if it meant his much more vocal vod might actually listen. "I don't know if you remember this, but I was also under that stupid thing's control! I tried to fight it, I knew what it was trying to make me do was wrong, but it felt... It felt good to give in. I didn't want to do any of the things it made me do, but I still did them... Because it made me feel amazing!"

Tup stood there, tense and shaking. Staring at him with fury and something else. Something he couldn't quite discern since it was just so many emotions in one. Since he didn't say anything else however, Dogma carried on.

"I didn't want to ambush and capture any of our vode. I didn't want to infect anyone else. I didn't want to hurt or kill the medics. I certainly didn't want to eat them!" Dogma paced, his wings twitching uncontrollably while he clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly. Tried to do something with them, otherwise he might try to gnaw on his wrists to feel something other than the whirlwind of emotions that were threatening to choke him out before he knocked some sense into Tup's thick skull. "I didn't want to hurt anyone... What I did want, was to make you happy. Because your happiness meant a lot to me... I wanted to be useful. And to protect everyone... Because Umbara was awful, and Krell was awful, and feeling sick and out of my depth was awful! And that thing it... It twisted it all up! It made me obey you without question, and rewarded me for making you 'happy'. It felt so good Tup... Making you happy felt so good, even if deep down we both knew what was happening was beyond our control... And that... And that we would live to regret it..."

Tup's expression shifted. The anger slowly melting away.

"I'm... I'm not good at this. I'm not good at explaining what happened back there, or how I feel about it, or even how you should feel about it but..." Dogma sighed. "It wasn't all you. The parasite used something you wanted against you... It tried to make you into a monster. But you're not. None of us are... Even if... Even if it's hard to believe after we did what we did..."

Tup continued to shake before he dropped back down onto the floor, trying to hide his face behind his pincers as he crumpled into a sobbing mess. Dogma wasted no time in sitting back down next to his twin. Ready to comfort him if he were allowed.

He was infinitely relieved when the other mutant didn't pull away, instead wrapping his tail around them both. Letting him in.

"I just wanted to protect everyone..." Tup cried as he buried his face into Dogma's shoulder. Tiny and vulnerable despite having become so much bigger and so heavily armored in this new form of his. "We were all dying... I just wanted to help!"

"I know..."

"I never wanted this! I just wanted everything to be ok!"

"It's ok now...I've got you."

"I̷'̶M̴ ̶S̷O̴ ̷S̴O̶R̷R̵Y̵!̸!̷!̸"

Dogma let his brother continue to cry. To let all of the things that had bottled up to near exploding point, rush out uninhibited. There was no one to judge him.

Really, he understood what Tup was feeling even if it was hard to put to words. He'd been just as horrified over his own actions once the parasite's spell had been broken. Still woke up crying sometimes, when he dreamt about the ambush. Still felt the guilt clawing away at his psyche whenever Coric, Pitch or Sponge flinched at the sight of him.

It would get better one day.

But for now Tup would just need to cry it out until he was done crying. And diligent that he'd always been when it came to offering his twin some solace, Dogma was there to dry his eyes. Just as he hoped he'd always be, now that the war was slowly coming to a halt It's what good brothers did.

[lilbittymonster]

Okay 6.55 thoughts in no particular order:

-Big Kittie Lady Wuk Lamat I Love You So Much

-Kitali does not like her enough to want to help with the politics though. She's done and over being used to further political goals of other people. The bit about not wanting to let the overly aggressive candidate win was intruiging but her line of thinking is "well, this is what the Alliance is supposed to be for, I'm not going to continue to be their one woman army anymore."

-WIFE SPOTTED IN LIMSA I REPEAT WIFE SPOTTED IN LIMSA LOMINSA DOCKS

-I am going to fucking shit myself laughing if Estinien winds up on the same boat/same dock as the Scions coming in completely by coincidence because he's continuing his retirement trip around the planet.

-I respect and love him so much for that btw like this man has likely never set foot much further outside of Coerthas than the North Shroud for the first 32 years of his life, he is going to see as much of the world as he can now.

-someone was complaining in Radz shout chat about how the relics weren't "an actual grind" and someone else shouted back that EW was the "waiting room expansion" like. Y'all did this to yourselves, you are aware of this, right? You complained and whined and pouted SO HARD about Eureka and Bozja that they said "okay, baby shoes this time" and now you think it's too easy? Come join us omnicrafters in the Splendour tool grind then. Cowards.

-I'm glad that only the Arkasodara quests are canon for Kitali bc wow that capstone questline felt like a "somehow Palpatine has retured" for me. Nonsense(derogatory) as opposed to Hildibrand nonsense(affectionate).

-Where is Hraesvelgr we saw Hraesvelgr in the trailer but he wasn't here? Maybe there's still more for the actual 7.0 release idk

-Also weird that G'raha was in Tural in the trailer but says he's staying behind with the Annex. I don't particularly mind or care but just something I thought was odd.

-Urianger and Thancred. That is all.

-"What are you two doing here?" Krile they fucking live in Sharlayan I don't know if you were aware of this or not.

-My fondness for Erenville continues to grow. I think he and Kitali get along very well. They both are so very Done(tm) with everyone.

-It was nice seeing Jullus on the Island sanctuary but that just blasted so many holes in a ficlet I had wanted to write and I was too busy being bitter about that to really enjoy the rest of the time there.

-"it must be nice being able to get away" yeah see you would THINK THAT but I keep having all these fucking tourists showing up on my beach asking to parade around the place. 'Private getaway' my ass. Kitali is packing a bag and moving to the east side of the island.

-the overall messages of "power of friendship and hope" and "everything comes to an end, we all experience loss" are really starting to sound like a broken record. For people like me who have basic media literacy and got the message the first idk half dozen times....this is unnecessary. I know that a good chunk of the userbase needs it spelled out for them in black and white but.....idk. And a lot of it is that it's trying to hit emotional buttons that I just don't have because I did not care that much about Endwalker as an expansion. EW was just the wolstinien agenda expansion lmao. I don't particularly care for the Omicron or the lopporit questlines which is where they really tried to jam pack it in and I just ended up button mashing my way through the stories.

-Who the FUCK was in charge of picking reaction expressions in all of those cutscenes? On top of "she would not be smiling like that at G'raha, it takes so much of her self control to not actively scowl at him", some of those were just so out of place. I know what each one was bc i live in gpose and the tonal dissonance on some of them were just........what.

-Monster hunter honeymoon expansion still a very strong possibility.

-those last few lines in the final cutscene.........Man. I hope we do get to go north and see what the fuck is under all those clouds on Ilsabard and Othard.

-final relic stage lance Pretty :3

-I need an entire sitcom of Wuk Lamat and Erenville as children that was SO TASTY.

-I am glad that they're getting rid of the Stormblood problem with making the contest of succession explicitly open to outsiders.

-I like the reference in the food book to potatoes and tomatoes being imported from Tural through Limsa, that was a nice touch.

-I will still likely not pick up blue mage by the time Dawntrail releases lmao. F for me for missing any potential extra dialogue.

Closing thought: Kittie