"If you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."
- Yoda
❆ ❆ ❆
Anakin, Ahsoka and Boba were all in a Jedi Shuttle 634 and were making their way to Zanbar where Death Watch supposedly took refuge.
"Do you think Master Dune will be alright? I felt something earlier, something dark." Boba asked worriedly as they broke through the atmosphere of the moon.
"I felt it too Boba, but if there's one thing I know about your master is that she's a survivor and a strong one too. We've been in many sticky situations and each time we've gotten out with only a few scratches." Anakin assured the worried padawan.
"Says the one with a metal arm." Boba said under his breath but Anakin heard him.
"Hey!" Anakin warned. "I know you're worried, but that's no excuse for attitude." He told Boba.
"I think you're usually the one with the attitude Master." Ahsoka defended Boba and he sent her a thankful glance.
"Great, now I've got two sassy padawans ganging up on me." Anakin sighed as he landed the ship on the surface of the planet.
The Jedi and the two padawans made their way out of the ship and down the ramp, however the air was very murky making it hard to see. Zanbar was a swamp moon so it wasn't very pleasant.
"Come on, my coordinates say Death Watch has a camp set up North. Oriel is most likely there too." Anakin said and started walking through the muddy swamps of the moon while the padawans followed side by side.
After a long walk through the mud, water and reeds, the three came into view of a lot of lights coming from the top of a mountain and they could hear echoing voices.
"Look up there. It must be Death Watch." Ahsoka said and jogged to the bottom of the rocky mountain. "Let's climb." She stated before starting to climb the rocks, the two boys copying her actions.
They reached the top and crouched down behind a rock to scout the place out first. It was very big with heaps of tents and ships and Mandalorians, each equipped with multiple weapons.
"What are we waiting for? Lets get this over with." Boba said and went to stand up but Ahsoka pulled him back down.
"We don't know what we're running into here, we need to look for advantages and disadvantages first." Anakin told to the boy who only wanted to get his master back.
After a few minutes of scouting the place out, they came up with a plan. The three Jedi were to attack from where Death Watch had all of their ships parks, so none of them could escape. It was also better as well because they had more cover that way.
Boba snuck up behind a woman and knocked her over the head with the hilt of his lightsaber, knocking her out cold. Unfortunately someone seemed to be watching.
"Intruders!" Someone shouted and alerted everyone else in the camp.
"This is going to be so fun." Ahsoka said sarcastically looking at the large group of Mandalorians that were preparing to fight.
"Just remember, we don't want to kill them all. We still need to find Master Dune." Anakin told the two padawans who nodded and ignited their lightsabers readying for battle.
❆ ❆ ❆
"I'm sick of waiting, I'm going back to Coruscant and confronting Kenobi myself." Oriel said retracting her darksaber. She was training with Vizsla.
"I thought Jedi were suppose to have patience?" Vizsla asked her.
"I was never a good Jedi. Not by the books anyways." Oriel said. "I never had patience, always wanting to jump into a fight. Not to mention I most defiantly have attachment issues." She laughed lightly to herself.
"Well those things make you a great warrior. And a great Death Watch leader." Vizsla told the girl who had joined his army just over a week ago.
"And the answer is no. I don't want you going back there." He said sternly, not changing his mind.
"Urgh, I may work with you, but I don't have to listen to you." Oriel said rolling her eyes.
"I'm being serious Oriel. I don't want you being face to face with Kenobi unless I'm with you." Vizsla said grabbing the girls arm, little did she know he only wanted to make sure that his lies stayed the truth.
"I appreciate the concern Vizsla, but I think I can handle him myself." She said slightly suspicious as to why he cared so much.
Over the past week, Vizsla has been training Oriel to use her new power. Anger. With her anger she could focus better and her hatred made her one with her new saber. Now she wanted nothing more than to watch Obi-Wan feel the same pain he had caused her.
"Don't worry sweetheart, they will be here soon. I just got word that our other Death Watch camp, set up on the moon Zanbar was attacked by the Republic and my guess is they'll be here next." Vizsla informed her and she cringed slightly at him calling her 'sweetheart'.
"Alright, alright." She gave in. "But if he's not here within two days, I'm going after him myself." Oriel said restlessly.
❆ ❆ ❆
"You better not be lying or we'll have to try more . . . persuasive methods." Boba threatened a tied up Mandalorian who they had captured when they attacked their base.
"Boba, I thought Oriel would have taught you by now that that's not the Jedi way." Anakin told Boba sternly as Jedi were not to use the more persuasive methods he was talking about.
"Sorry Master, but it's people like this scum that deserve it." He said threw gritted teeth. Boba had lost his Master, who was more like a mother, for a whole month, and when he a gotten her back, she was once again ripped from his reach.
"You need to control yourself Boba. I know you were trained differently than most padawans, but that is no excuse." Anakin said to Boba who looked down at his lap ashamed of himself.
"Looks like he was right. The camps here, right where he said it would be." Ahsoka informed as their ship came in view of the second Death Watch camp on Carlac.
"You proved yourself useful." Boba taunted to their prisoner as they landed the ship not far away from the camp.
"Be prepared, they most definitely would've seen us land." Anakin told the two padawans as they exited the ship.
He was right, the Death Watch camp had seen the Jedi Shuttle land and were preparing for a fight. Oriel was mentally preparing herself to come face to face with Obi-Wan and for some reason, her heart still ached that feeling of longing for him.
He betrayed you Oriel, he deserves what's coming for him. A voice said inside her head but it didn't sound like her.
He might've stopped loving me, but I haven't stopped loving him. Her mind argued, this time it sounded like her.
Then train yourself to stop loving him. Once you destroy him, you will see how good it feels. The voice said back and this time her own mind didn't respond.
The voice was the dark side that was growing inside her body more and more each day. It was the reason she was sat in the camp as a friend not an enemy, and it was the reason she wore the silver metal suit and carried blasters and a dark saber instead of a lightsaber.
However, it did feel good. Great even. But Oriel still didn't know if it's what she wanted.
"Are you ready?" Vizsla's voice pulled her from her mind.
"I have to be." She responded with and sat up from the bed she had been sleeping in the past week. Oriel put her Mandalorian helmet on and readied herself for whatever fate had laid out in front of her.
Anakin, Ahsoka and Boba had walked straight into the middle of the camp and were continuously being fired at by masked Mandalorians.
"All we need is Oriel, then we can take her back to the temple and return with a clone army to shut this operation down." Anakin said over the blaster shots.
"I can't feel her presence master, she might not even be here." Boba said as he could usually feel her soothing presence when ever she was near, but he was not feeling it.
But Oriel was there alright, it was just that her presence was no longer soothing.
"What's going on?" Ahsoka asked as all of Death Watch stopped firing at them.
"I don't know, perhaps they want to negotiate?" Anakin offered, not dropping his defensive position.
In the sudden silence, the Mandalorians parted and made way for two others to walk through. It was Vizsla and Oriel.
"I'm guessing you must be Governor Vizsla." Anakin greeted and then turned to the masked Oriel.
"And who might you be?" He asked and he was slightly concerned with this person as he could feel the force radiating off them, but it was laced with darkness.
"It's only been week, have really forgotten about me already Ani?" Oriel asked in a menacing way. Anakin's eyes widened when he heard her call him 'Ani' realising who it was.
"Oriel?" He asked in disbelief and look on Boba's face was even more confusing.
"Why look so surprised? After Obi-Wan left me for dead, I thought at least you would know I wouldn't go without a fight." Oriel asked Anakin as she took off her helmet.
"She did put up quite the fight, but then I saw something in her you never did and I helped her use it to her advantage. I showed her how you all were using her and now she is where she belongs." Vizsla interrupted the little reunion.
"Oriel, Obi-Wan didn't-" Anakin began but Vizsla was quick to cut him off.
"There's no use in trying to cover up lies with lies, besides, Oriel has only one thing on her mind." He said and Oriel was slightly annoyed that Vizsla was speaking on behalf of her.
"Now where is Kenobi?" Oriel asked as she noticed he was not with the three Jedi.
"You're not Master Dune. You're not Oriel." Boba shook his head trying to wake himself up from the living nightmare.
"Boba. My dear Boba. I thought you of all people would understand. This is what you were born to be and yet Oriel robbed you of your destiny." Oriel said and it confused Boba that she spoke about herself in third person. It was as if it wasn't even Oriel speaking.
Perhaps it wasn't Oriel speaking, as the words that had slipped from her mouth before, she could stop them and she felt immense guilt when she did. Oriel felt conflicted in her mind, as if she was two different living people, one built with darkness and hatred, the other filled with love and sadness.
"You told me I could never be a Separatist, and that I was born a Jedi." Boba said sadly, remembering the loving words his master had spoken to him so long ago.
"You were hardly born, but made. Don't forget Boba, you are clone and that's all you'll ever be." The voice spoke from Oriel's mouth once more and not only did Boba feel a knife run through his heart, but Oriel did too.
She wanted to take it back, she wanted nothing more than to run up to Boba and hug him in apology, but it was as if Oriel didn't exist anymore. The darkness inside her had grown to large and was now eating away at her old self.
The situation had gotten out of hand, all she ever wanted to do was get back at Obi-Wan for treating her like a disposable prize. She never wanted Boba to get hurt in the cross fire.
"Master, look at her eyes." Ahsoka whispered to Anakin as she stared at Oriel.
Oriel's eyes had turned red and yellow with the growing darkness inside her, but every couple of seconds they would flash the brightness of her old hazel eyes.
"She's still in there. We can get her out." Anakin said, more trying to convince himself.
Oriel dropped her helmet and reached to her waist against her will. Her body pulled out the darksaber and ignited it while staring poison at the three Jedi who were once her closest friends.
"They're all yours." Vizsla said before Oriel started approaching Anakin and soon, the darkness became to much. She wanted it to stop so badly but it just stabbed the last bit of brightness she had left in her and she blacked out.
However, it only felt as if she blinked before she was awake again and she found herself in a situation she never believed would be happening in a million years.
Anakin had his heels on the edge of a cliff while he held his blue lightsaber protectively in front of his face. Oriel was pushing forcefully with her darksaber, trying her hardest to push Anakin off a cliff.
She faltered, seeing what she was doing and immediately stopped. But she could feel the darkness coming back to take over her body again.
"Save yourself." Oriel said to Anakin who looked confused at her sudden change but looked understanding when he noticed her eyes had changed back to her normal self.
"I'm sorry." She whispered and the darkness took over her once more.
(Authors Notes)
OOOOH It's getting intense!! Oriel will come face to face with Obi-Wan in the next chapter so prepare yourselves for it, it may be a bumpy ride!