deercountry | ( open ) if you have something to say

Entry tags:

( open ) if you have something to say

Who: Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader (

facultative) and you!
What: November catchall
When: Throughout November
Where: Various

Content Warnings: violence
i. no fighting
[By this point Anakin is looking like a textbook example of what advanced corruption looks like. Fanged teeth, fever and glassy, bloodshot eyes and an unwillingness to seek treatment has most of the locals giving him a wide berth. He's already drawn his lightsaber against quite a few people who had tried to assist him.

Perhaps your character is minding their own business or perhaps they’re keeping a wary eye on a clearly volatile young man. Regardless Anakin will notice them for whatever reason.]

What are you looking at?

ii. potential for violence
[The next person that tries to convince him to seek help hangs suspended in the air as they try to grapple with the invisible force holding them by the throat.]

Do I look like I need help?

[Slowly Anakin increases the pressure and their eyes bulge before they catch another character’s eyes, one hand leaving their neck to frantically gesture for help.

Otherwise use i. or make up your own prompt! This is mostly so I know who doesn't mind things escalating.]

iii. obi-wan
[Anakin had been hard to locate last month with his bloodtype allowing him to seemingly vanish into thin air, but the new month had removed that advantage and it was only a matter of time before he ran into his old master.]

You look tired.

[He looks worse, but he feels better than he has in a long time. Releasing the weight of his previous indecision having a greater impact than the effects of corruption. He draws his lightsaber, revealing the red blade as he points it against Obi-Wan.]

Last chance to walk away.

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[ obi-wan nearly sags in relief, pushed to the limit. he wipes his brow, trying not to let his eyes skitter over anakin in worry. he had . . . a lot to process later. ]

Thank you, R2. As always, your timing is impeccable.

[ now to get anakin to maul. and hope . . . hope there is a chance. ]

[He'd been waiting for this. He figured either Obi-Wan would find a way to subdue his wayward apprentice or Anakin would kill his master, in which case they were all kinds of fucked, as Maul knew he might die if he went up against the man now calling himself Darth Vader.

When Obi-Wan hauls Anakin over to Maul's home, he looks from his longtime foe to the supposed Sith now missing his robotic hand and just shakes his head. He circles Anakin's prone form, prodding him with a claw or toe now and again as if assessing what he's got to work with here.]

You're no Sith. [He says contemptuously to the unconscious body.] You're a child throwing a temper tantrum.

[He looks back towards Obi-Wan.]

I must warn you I've never done this before.

[But they really don't have a lot of other options here. So Maul sits down near Anakin's head and focuses. In a way, summoning the magic this place here has given him is like connecting with the Force. He just needs to reach out and feel it, to mold it into the purpose he needs it for. He closes his eyes, hands hovering there, and when he feels like it's right there where he can touch it, he reaches forward.

His hands go transparent and physically go inside Anakin's mind, a sickly green glow now surrounding the two of them like the same hue Dathomirian Nightsister witches used when they performed magic. He can feel things inside Anakin, dark ugly things that he can only assume is the corruption in this place. He's started to suffer a little from it himself. He grasps the bits of it and starts pulling them out. They appear as clouds of black smoke which begin to dissipate as soon as Maul fully gets them out of the Jedi's head.]

[ he's too tired to manage a scathing remark about that, simply nodding his head and taking his place at anakin's side. his posture is stooped and the burn of his muscles is replaced by an ache that can't quite be banished. anakin — anakin wanted to kill him. would have kill him. if obi-wan had faltered by an inch, it would have been over.

the depths of such a feeling. ]

[Maul continues his work until he's sure he has gotten as much of the muck out of Anakin's head as he possibly can. Since this is his first attempt, he's not sure if he did this right or even if it will be effective, but since when have things ever been anything but desperate for him or Obi-Wan?

Finally, the last handful of black smoke dissipates into nothingness, and Maul opens his eyes. He feels drained in a way that doesn't happen when he uses the Force, like he's overstrained a muscle that has barely been used and exercised it far too hard.

He glances at Obi-Wan. That damn troll post has given him much to think about. Now is neither the time nor the place to address it with the Jedi Master but it's made Maul question his motivations for doing this in the first place. Had he done it merely because he wanted to balance things out with Obi-Wan, give him back something after Maul had taken so much away from him? Or was it something more that involved the way his feelings towards Obi-Wan had shifted from pure hatred towards something...something else? An emotion the Zabrak Sith Lord was loathe to give a name to. But at his core, Maul knows it wasn't pure altruism that had motivated him here today.]

That's all I can do. [He says softly.] We'll have to see if it worked when he wakes up.

[ with great patience, obi-wan reaches out to take anakin's hand, seared by obi-wan's own lightsaber. he could heal it a little. usagi had been teaching him, bit by bit. but anakin may not want to. anakin may not want anything to do with him. obi-wan presses a quiet kiss to anakin's knuckles before letting them rest upon his forehead.

then

he lets go.

obi-wan settles anakin's hand back down, crossing his own. hoarse, stretched, he responds. ]

Thank you.

[The intimate gesture, the same that Obi-Wan had done with Satine's corpse on the river of blood, makes Maul look away briefly and down at the ground. He didn't feel any guilt this time, he hadn't caused Anakin's downfall, but there is something that stirs in the back of his mind. It's a reminder that Obi-Wan has always had so much sorrow in his own life even when Maul himself wasn't causing it.

He finally catches Obi-Wan's eyes and holds his gaze there, unblinking yellow ones meeting the Jedi's steady blue gaze.]

I know you'll blame yourself for what he did because you think you are responsible for him. [Because that's what good people always did when they were the heroic type. They shouldered the responsibility for everyone around them even when they held no power to change what could or did end up happening.] But don't. He made his own decisions and you couldn't have turned him from this path.

[ tiredly. ]

I am aware of that. But to separate myself from the reality is — needs time.

[ there is no such thing as a perfect jedi. every one of them need time to process. to accept. and right now, obi-wan can't quite find it in his heart to do so. ]

[Maul nods. This has been one hell of a day for Obi-Wan, or really, more like one hell of a year considering all that has happened to him ever since he arrived here in Deerington and had to start dealing with Maul again.

Maul stands up, the motion fluid thanks to his mechanical legs. He takes a step or two towards Obi-Wan and places a hand briefly onto his shoulder. Maul's never been one much for the role of comforting someone but the Jedi is clearly in pain, shouldering a burden he should never have been made to deal with. He keeps it there long enough to show the gesture is meant benevolently and squeezes gently before he drops his hand again. Wordlessly, he steps back. His job here is done, Obi-Wan can deal with whatever state Anakin is in when he wakes up.]

[Anakin comes to slowly almost as if he's already aware of what awaits him. He's stiff and sore and he moves to throw a hand over his head except there's nothing there.

And then it all comes back to him.

There was no coming back from this. The knowledge that their worlds would wait for them had once been of comfort and was now a noose around his neck. There was no changing this. Not when he wasn't content enough to let it loom in his future, but to try and bring it about here and now.

He was no Jedi. Never had been.

He curls up into a ball in a futile attempt to block everything out. All the while one word echoes ceaselessly in his head.

Vader.]

[ he can sense the change when anakin rouses. for a moment, obi-wan considers reaching out . . . and then reconsiders. instead he crosses his arms under his cloak before speaking up. ]

Anakin.

[He considers not responding. But Anakin is terrified that he'll take a lack of response to mean that he wants to be left alone and that is the last thing he wants right now.]

Why didn't you do it?

[Hasn't Obi-Wan realised what he will become?]

[ the question lances at his heart. did anakin really think he could have.

and yet. wouldn't obi-wan have done it? if all hope was lost? he had his oath. he knew his duty. and duty is the death of love. ]

I . . . I couldn't.

[Anakin sits up and confirms that Maul's attempt had worked. His eyes are blue again, but they are also filled with despair.]

Is it because it's easier to leave?

[To leave him to his fate is a cruelty he thought was beyond Obi-Wan.]

What? No, Anakin. Nothing about this was easy.

[ his own temper flares briefly with how stressed he has been. so close they had been to losing each other. the pain is still lodged in his chest like a stone. his fingers tighten unconsciously under his robe. ]

I don't — I don't understand. Why, Anakin . . . What made you go this far? I keep looking back and I can't make sense of it.

[He ducks his head and covers his face with his one hand.]

I know what I will do, what I'll become. I thought I could change it, but I can't.

Maybe the kid you raised never really existed. There's no Anakin, everything leads to him.

[ obi-wan frowns, his expression tightly wound. ]

There is always a choice, Anakin. Is this really the choice you wish to make? Is this the future you want?

What does it matter if it's already happened?!

[He scrubs at his face in an ineffectual attempt to stop tears from welling up.]

I-- I want to choose you. [And Padmé and Luke. Not a lifetime of suffering.] But I don't.

[ the tightness fades a little after hearing that. he couldn't help his doubts, not after anakin so vehemently said he despised him and the jedi. all that anger . . . that hate. ]

Of course you can still choose, Anakin. That's why we're here. To find a way.

I'm here for you.

[It's a kindness he doesn't deserve. He's cried so much these past months and every time he thinks he's out of tears he finds there's greater depths to his suffering.

He lets out an anguished cry and sobs. Obi-Wan is just out of reach otherwise he'd insist on getting his tears and snot all over him. Instead he hugs himself the best he can while he tries and fails to say something. There's only fragments of words as he fails and tries to reword his thoughts over and over.

But through it all, there's still the understanding that he meant it when he said that a galaxy without Padmé, wasn't one worth saving.]

[ his heart tears at the corners at the sound. he has never borne anakin's misery well and it wounds him to know his student was pushed so far into despair. he reaches out to place a hand on anakin's shoulder, a warm and comforting presence. ]

[That's all he needs before he's awkwardly clinging to Obi-Wan, demanding care and love from the one person who has never turned him down.

Now his words are clearer to understand, but only because he's trying to repeatedly say 'I'm sorry' over and over.]

Oh, Anakin.

[ they would need to have an honest discussion about all that happened here. there's too much said and unsaid to be discarded. but anakin was here. whole. all hope was not lost for them. obi-wan would do his best to protect it, fragile as it is.

he still had his boy. ]

[It eases something in him to know that Obi-Wan has seen all the darkness inside of him and hasn't forsaken him for it. He doesn't know how he'd deal for when his visions came to pass. One day he'll go too far, but right now he can safely put it to one side.

Slowly, but surely he starts to settle. He's exhausted both physically and emotionally and while he wants nothing more than to go back to sleep he has to at least get this out properly.]

...I should have told you about Luke.

[ obi-wan gives a faint nod though he still seems distinctly troubled. ]

I think there is a lot you need to tell me. And we're due an honest conversation about it all, Anakin.

[Anakin chooses not to reply and distracts himself with scrubbing at his face instead. He doesn't want to talk about any of it and he's gotten away with it so far as things kept cropping up and providing a welcome distraction.]

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