Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo

Chapter 23

He breathed deep as he pushed the awful vision away...and trying to ignore the siren taunting-of his own weakness

-how pathetic he was, how Qui-Gon took him on only out of pity-

He gasped as he felt a pulse in the force, through his bond with his master. He sent a feeling of gratitude to the man. The padawan laid his hand on the door, keeping himself anchored from falling back into another vision within a vision. He thought he knew what the Dark Side was before; Perhaps not entirely, but enough to resist it, to not be so easily overwhelmed.

He thought Vader's overpowering presence had validated that.

He had known nothing.

Vader was powerful, but his cold aura was little more than a minor shock compared against this truly malevolent entity.

Was this Sidious even truly a living creature, a sentient and sapient lifeform? How could something of such endless and near-mindless hatred be truly self-aware?

He shook that thought off as he sensed Ahsoka catch up with him, forcing himself to remember how to open these doors.

They slid open and the pair knew relief.

Obi-Wan breathed deep as he quickly took stock of the circular room. It was almost entirely empty. At the center sat Master Yaddle, meditating and floating with a great flow of soothing Force energy around her. There was a stern look upon her face, eyes closed with the occasional, momentary grimace.

It didn't take Obi-Wan long to put the situation together. Yaddle was trying to shield off the effects of the assault. Not just here, but the entire temple, sparing the worst of the visions on the mind. Like a great lighthouse in a mighty storm, it also steadied and bolstered the other Jedi. Like Battle Meditation, in a way.

"Skyguy!"

Ahsoka's cry brought his gaze away from the green alien, watching the youngling rush over to a body behind one of the council chairs. He moved after her and scowled in concern.

Anakin was unconscious, just lying there. If not for current circumstances, he would thought the boy had just passed out after a long, long day. Many other Younglings had, or no doubt soon would. But something felt wrong with this, with Anakin.

If the former slave passed out from the assault of the Dark Side, he should be in a cold sweat of one nightmare or another. Yet, he seemed entirely peaceful. Too peaceful.

And Anakin had braved the mental effects of Vader's March without any apparent effort. This Darth Sidious was an entirely different kind of foe, but it seemed...unlikely that Anakin would be downed so easily when he and Ahsoka were still awake.

And he was laying right here, in the Tower of Tranquility, with Master Yaddle who was acting as a buffer against the Dark Side. This should be the safest place for an unguarded mind.

"Qa iniban ar jeo?" Ahsoka asked in her native tongue.(What happened to him?)

Luckily, it was a language Obi-wan had a decent handle on. "Do go ktei," he admitted as he laid a hand on Anakin's head.(I don't know.)

He schooled his expression quickly, not wanting to alarm Ahsoka, even as a cold sweat ran down his neck. He found himself somehow glad that this mass mind-assualt, if only because he didn't have to explain the shaking of his hands.

He couldn't feel anything. He couldn't sense anything from this very, very powerful child. There was just...nothing.

But, that couldn't be right. That would...that would imply...