sparky // a padawan story

chapter 24. the cathedral.

I sit behind Obi-Wan as he attempts to pilot the ship out of the atmosphere. His face scrunches in concentration as he struggles.
"Would you two see what's wrong back there? I don't understand why this is so difficult all of a sudden," he says. The two of us leave the cockpit and head back to the back controls. Ahsoka starts to mess with it as Anakin jolts awake.
She moves from the controls to put a hand on his back. "Were you having a nightmare?"
He groans. "Something like that." The ship rattles.
"If you're done napping, I could use a little help here," Obi-Wan calls back from the cockpit.
"I'm coming," Anakin says grogilly as he starts towards the cockpit. I suddenly feel someone grab me around the neck, and does the same to Ahsoka. We grunt as we try to break free. Anakin notices and turns around quickly as the doors to the cockpit close.
"Leaving so soon?" the man holding us asks. The Son. He holds us up by our necks. I gasp for air, as does Ahsoka. "Not without them, you won't." He opens the door and jumps down. We fall through the air in his grasp.
"Ahsoka, Arlo!" I hear Anakin shout as we continue to fall. The Son turns into his gargoyle form and we fly away. The ship starts to follow us and the gargoyle through the air. The talons cut off the circulation in my arm and makes it fall asleep. We fly through the tall pillars of rock as the ship draws closer. Suddenly, the Son zooms away towards a giant tower with a menacing neon green light at the top. While he flies faster than normal, I come up with an idea. A stupid one? Definitely. And it's a bit disgusting. But if it works...
I bite the gargoyle's leg, causing him to twitch. His grip loosens slightly, and I slip away from his grasp and begin to fall. I grab onto Ahsoka's leg to try to take her with me. The Son notices he isn't holding me anymore and easily shakes me off, leaving Ahsoka with him and causing me to fall towards the ground.
"Arlo!" Ahsoka yells.
"Soka!" I yell as I reach up, grasping at the air. I near closer and closer to the ground. I use the Force to slow my fall, and I land crouched on two feet. I sigh in relief. But then it sinks in. I'm alone in the most horrifying and unpredictable place in the universe. I start to worry. "The sky," I mutter to myself. I look up at the unsettling black and grey sky. Needless to say, it doesn't help. At all. I look away. "Okay, okay. Don't panic. I need to find Ahsoka." I feel stupid talking to myself, but I can't stand the eerie silence. "All right. What would Obi-Wan do...? Well he wouldn't freak out, for sure— okay. I'll be fine. I'll start towards the tower and find Ahsoka. Maybe him and Anakin will be there?" I ignite my lightsaber and use it to help light my way through the tall rock pillars. I walk in the direction on the green orb on top of the tower. "Force, I hate this place. Okay, what do I do once I get there? I can't physically overpower the Son, so I suppose I have to be stealthy. But he's also really witty. Kriff, I'm screwed. I am so screwed. How am I gonna get in though?" I debate my options. I continue to draw nearer to the cathedral-like tower until I stand at the bottom. "Definitely not the door. How else... oh. That's it." I turn off my saber and hook it on my belt, looking up at the giant building before me. I take a deep breath and jump up, holding on tightly to the wall so I don't fall. I scale up it extremely carefully for what feels like forever until I get to the part of the tower that holds the green orb above. My arms are weak and exhausted now. "I really should've brought a cord with me," I mutter as I jump the rest of the way up and land on top of the orb, wobbling slightly. I hold out my hands for balance, then stand up straight and grab my saber. I hold it up in one hand over my head and ignite it, the gold standing out against the bright green, and turn it in my hands to stab through the orb, cutting a circle around my feet, which causes me to fall into the orb. I turn off my saber as I hit the ground. The neon green light hurts my eyes as I fumble around to find a way out. I trip and fall down a spiral staircase, into a dark hallway. I put my saber on my belt and rub my eyes as I stand up and brush myself off. I use the Force in an attempt to sense her location. She's... towards the middle somewhere. Yes. That's where I need to go. I sneak quietly through the maze that is the hallways, almost getting lost multiple times but always using the Force to guide my way again. It's hard to focus in this place. The dark side of the Force is very strong here, and I feel the need to stay on guard the protect myself from it. It feels like it's a parasite waiting to seep in my bloodstream at any given moment. Suddenly, a odd creature walks up behind me. I ignite my saber and point it at him. He puts his hands up in surrender.
"You shouldn't be here," the creature says.
"You will take me to the Son's prisoner," I say as I wave my hand in front of him.
"I... will... take you... to the Son's prisoner." I smirk and turn off my saber as the creature leads me down to a courtyard, where Ashoka stands.
"Ahsoka? Ahsoka! Stars, am I glad to see you. I'm really sorry—"
"I knew you'd come," she says, her voice more hostile than usual. "You fool." She turns to me. Blue veins scatter across her face, and her yellow eyes glare coldly at me. I take a step back.
"Ahsoka... what did he do to you?"
"He enlightened me. It's a shame he had to go before he gets to see me destroy you."
"Soka, he was never here—" Then it hits me. The Son was the creature, he faked being fooled by my mind trick, and this was all a trap. "Oh."
"Like I said, a fool. A weak, pathetic fool."
"Stop it."
"Then make me."
"I won't fight you. I don't want to hurt you. Ahsoka, you're my best friend! You can't let the Son control you like this!"
"I'm in control," she sneers as she ignites her green saber.
"Don't do this, please," I beg. She charges at me with her saber quickly as I ignite mine and block her swing at me. She continues to slash at me angrily while I block her blade continuously. I've practiced with her many times before, but this is nothing like practice. We're usually equals, but as she's being controlled by the Son and his darkness right now, I'm definitely overpowered. But I still put up a good fight. Our blades clash, and she pushes them close to my neck. I feel the burn of the hot blades getting closer to my skin. I see one of Ahsoka's hands start to move down to her second shoto lightsaber and point it up towards my chest. I Force kick her away before she can ignite it through me. We now stand a few feet apart. She flips her smaller yellow-green blade so she now holds it in her usual backhanded grip. I take a deep breath. I know I'm overpowered now. I've never fought her with her two blades, and combined with the Son's power...
"At least try to put up a fight," Ahsoka challenges as she runs towards me. I block both of her blades as they stab at me and then continue to parry with her. She does a flip over me and tries to stab at my back, but I block it just in time. She uses the Force to pull me up into the air and choke me.
"Ahsoka..." I choke out. "Please." She suddenly lets go of me and stalks up towards me. She pulls me up by my shirt and punches me across the face. I groan in pain as she does it again. I push her away and kick her in the chest. I block another one of her punches and duck below a kick. I swing an arm at her, but she catches it and... bites me? She flips me back first on the ground. I sit up and grab my arm. "What did you...?" I feel my veins tense up and my eyes grow hard.
"Good," Ahsoka says, dragging me into a corner as I black out.
—
I regain consciousness at the sound of a voice echoing in the courtyard. But I don't quite open my eyes yet.
"Ahsoka," Anakin calls. "Ahsoka! It's me. You're safe now. Let's go."
"Are you... proud of me, Master?" I hear Ahsoka question.
"What? Uh... of course, Snips. Of course I'm proud of you. Now let's get out of here. Wait, where's Arlo?"
"He's right. Right about everything. You must join him. He only wants what's best for the universe."
"Hey... what's wrong with you?" Anakin questions.
"Always with the criticism, Master. Never really believing in me, trusting me. Well, I don't need you anymore."
"Ahsoka. Ahsoka, listen to me. He has done something to you, snap out of it! This isn't you, Ahsoka!"
"Isn't it? I feel more like myself than I ever have. He asked me to give you a message. He said if you don't join him, he will kill me." She laughs. "And Arlo, too." My eyes shoot open at the mention of my name, but I'm still too weak to stand. An overwhelming anger fills me. A need for revenge. A hatred for everyone who's wronged me or stands in my way. All I want... is power.
Anakin turns to me in the corner behind him, then back to Ahsoka. "I won't let him."
"Then you will be forced to kill me. Then her." Ahsoka ignites her green lightsaber and jumps at him. Anakin ignites his blue blade and defends himself.
"I don't want to fight you Ahsoka." She overpowers him and flips backwards as he falls to the ground, disarmed.
"And now, the student will kill the master."
He grabs his blade with the Force and deflects hers once again. "Getting ahead of yourself, aren't you, Snips?"
"Don't call me that! I hate it when you call me that!" Anakin disarms her best she kicks him back and flips to catch her lightsaber, reigniting it along with her shoto. Another presence enters the room. Obi-Wan. He ignites his saber. "Two Jedi. Finally a challenge."
"You." My voice is dark. Rage seethes through my blood as I pull myself up. Obi-Wan turns and runs over to me as Ahsoka and Anakin continue to fight.
"Arlo, are you—?" I ignite and point my saber at him before he can get any closer. "Arlo..." His voice cracks, filled with pain.
I glare at him. "Don't act all upset. I see through your lies. You never actually cared. You just feel pity for me."
"Arlo, you know that's not true—"
"All I've ever been is a replacement to Anakin. You've never thought I was actually good enough. And now I'm going to prove you wrong." I lift my blade over my head and swing it down at him. He blocks it with his own. I slash at him rabidly as he sticks to his usually Soresu defensive methods.
"Don't let him control you, Arlo! I know you're in there!"
"You're wrong. I'm still me. I just know better now."
"You know nothing, Arlo, you've been corrupted by the Son!"
"Why do you always have act so high and mighty, like you're better than me? You're just like my father. I see that now." Our blades clash together as we push against each other.
His face is traced with pain from my words, illuminated by the blue and gold light. "Don't say that, Arlo, please. Please, just come back to me." I push away his saber and Force kick him back. He scrambles up.
"Any suggestions?" Anakin calls over to him. Obi-Wan pulls something from his back. It shifts into a dagger. And for some reason, I know it's a bad thing for me.
"Yes. We cut them free," Obi-Wan answers.
"What is that?" Anakin questions.
"It can kill the Son," Obi-Wan says.
"Where did you get that?" I question angrily, the Son's angry voice mixing with mine.
The same happens to Ahsoka as she speaks. "Give it to me!" I charge at Obi-Wan and stab at him from behind. He blocks it easily and we parry once again, but every now and then he tries to cut me with the dagger. I move out of the way every time. Our blades clash once again.
"You still have much to learn, my Padawan." His blade pushes hard against mine. "I'm sorry. This might hurt."
"Don't do it—" I'm cut off as he twists my hands with his one that holds his saber, sending my blade flying to the side. I start over towards it, but he throws the dagger at me and it grazes my left arm. He tosses the blade to Anakin, but Ahsoka intercepts it. Still, he runs to catch me as I fall to the ground and grab my arm. I glare at him. "I hate you!" I yell as darkness is sucked out of my chest.
"You're my... my daughter, Arlo. I love you," he hardly whispers as something wet falls onto my face. A... tear. I feel free again as my eyes roll back.
—
My eyes flutter open, and I find myself in Obi-Wan's arms in a courtyard. My arm is hot with pain, my hand resting on top of it. My brows scrunch in confusion.
"Hey. There you are," Obi-Wan says softly.
"Wha... what happened?"
"You don't remember? Anything?" I shake my head no. "Well, you're okay now."
"My arm hurts."
"I know." He takes a shaky breath.
I notice a streak from a single tear on his cheek. "Were... were you...?"
He shakes his head. "Don't worry about it." I take my hand off of my arm to wipe it away. "Oh, no, Arlo, don't. There's... blood. All over your hand." I look down at my hand, soaked in crimson.
"Oh." I look down at my arm. The dark grey shirt underneath my grey tunic is torn and bloody. "How did it happen?" I look back at him. He has a guilty look on his face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I'm just... glad you're okay, is all."
"Have I been out for long?"
"Oh, no. Hardly even a minute. Just try to keep a hand on that for pressure, okay? We'll get it patched up back on the ship."
"What's going on, Obi?" He helps me stand back up. I feel nauseous, and it takes all my willpower to not throw up on the spot just from standing. I look around and see the Son attacking the Father with red lightning, and the Daughter cowered on the ground. "Obi-Wan?" He doesn't respond as Ahsoka steps towards the Son with the dagger.
"Everything has transpired exactly as I planned," the Son tells us.
"You showed them the altar?" the Father asks as he points to the dagger. I give Obi-Wan a confused look, but he stays focused on the scene. He lets go of me for a moment as he helps the Daughter up.
"I am sorry, Father," she says as Obi-Wan walks her over towards him. "I didn't know how else to stop him."
"Give it to me, child," the Son commands Ahsoka. She looks back at Anakin. Her eyes are yellow. What in the world happened to her?
"Ahsoka, no," Anakin says.
I try to walk over to Obi-Wan, but everything starts to spin. The blood spills out of my arm nonstop. Ahsoka hands the dagger to the Son.
He examines it. "Thank you. Your usefulness has come to an end." He touches a finger to her head, and she collapses to the ground. A small amount of memory comes back to me. Yes... the Son possessed her... we fought... but what else?
"No!" Anakin shouts as he charges at the Son.
"Soka!" I yell weakly. My eyes unfocus. I kneel to the ground so I don't topple over at any given moment. The Son uses the Force to push Anakin back, and he lands close to me. He stands back up, but moves to bend down and help me stand up, holding me upright. He looks scared.
"The Jedi have brought me the dagger, and you have brought yourself. Now, Father, you will die." He raises the dagger over his head.
Suddenly, the Daughter moves from Obi-Wan's hold. "Father!" Obi-Wan reaches out to stop her in shock, but it's too late. She jumps between the Father and the Son, taking the dagger to the back. The Son lets go of the dagger as the Father catches his child.
The Son looks pained. He glares at his own hands and grunts in frustration. "Why?" he screams as he jumps up into the air and turns into his gargoyle form, flying up and away. Obi-Wan turns back to Anakin and I, and he moves to hold me up by sticking an arm around me while Anakin runs over to Ahsoka, panicked. Obi-Wan and I walk slowly up to them. Anakin turns Ahsoka over on her back.
The Father pulls the dagger from the Daughter's back and tosses it to the side, holding her. "My daughter. What have I done?"
She coughs and places her hand on his, while the glow she gives off begins to fade slowly away. "Do not hate him, Father. It is his nature."
He places her on the ground, next to Ahsoka. "No. All is lost. The balance has been broken. I thought by bringing you here, I would... but I have destroyed everything."
I look down at Ahsoka. She... she isn't... breathing. Dead. No... no... it can't...
Obi-Wan notices as my breath starts to hitch. He guides my head to his shoulder as tears start to fall silently onto his tunic.
"Can you help her?" Anakin asks the Father, pain lining his voice.
"There is no light. The evil has been unleashed," the Father says, "and the dark side shall consume her."
"You must help her!"
"I cannot undo what is done," the Father tells him. "There is no hope."
"Yes, there is. There's always hope!" Anakin argues. I look back up, cheek still resting on the front of Obi-Wan's shoulder while his hand rests between my shoulder blades, and see the Daughter point to Ahsoka. The Father closes his eyes and nods as he stands up in between the two bodies. He gestures to Anakin to move between them. He does, and kneels between the two of them. Anakin lifts his hands up, as does the Father behind him.
"Then let my daughter's last act," he says as Anakin places his each of his hands onto their foreheads, "be to breathe life into your friend." Anakin lights up and gasps as the Daughter and Ahsoka are lifted from the ground, the life Force from the Daughter moving through Anakin to reach Ahsoka. Obi-Wan blocks his eyes as I turn away into his chest. I turn back as the light fades away. Ahsoka's skin is no longer veiny, and the Daughter's glow is now completely gone. Ahsoka suddenly gasps for air and sits up.
Anakin automatically moves and hugs her. "Hey, Snips."
"What's going on?" she asks.
"Uh, not much. It's good to see you," Anakin says as he helps her up.
She looks at me and Obi-Wan. "Arlo, what happened to your arm? Are you okay?"
Suddenly, everything connects in my head. My eyes widen in realization. The Son... the dagger... "Oh... uh, yes, I'm all right."
"As the balance in this world crumbles, so shall war escalate in your galaxy," the Father says as he kneels back down to his daughter. "As my son has descended into the dark side, so have the Sith gained strength."
"We will stop your son," Anakin says.
"No. You must go now. He needs your ship to leave the planet. You must leave before he can take it."
"What about you?" Obi-Wan asks.
"I shall mourn at all I have done..." He picks up his daughter's lifeless hand. "...and all that is yet to be." Thunder rumbles as we walk away. Obi-Wan practically has to drag me, but ends up scooping me into his arms as we walk back towards our ship.
"That's what happened to me, isn't it? The Son was inside of me, like he was with Ahsoka," I speak to Obi-Wan through the Force.
"...Yes. But you're okay now."
"The dagger. That's why my arm is cut."
"You're very perceptive, little one."
"You cut him out of me, didn't you?"
"I... did. Yes. I'm sorry, Arlo, I didn't want to hurt you, but I had to do—"
I hug him around the neck with my good arm, chin resting on his shoulder. "You saved me. Why are you sorry?"
"Well now it looks like you're about to bleed out, and it's because of me."
"Don't apologize. Thank you."
"I couldn't let him take you from me." He looks at my arm. "You're losing a lot of blood, the dagger went pretty deep."
"But why didn't I die like Ahsoka did, when you cut him out of me?"
"Hm... I presume it's because part of his soul was inside you. And while I cut it out of you and you were better right after, he sucked out all of the life from Ahsoka, including the part of his soul."
"Oh. Yes, he said if Anakin didn't turn he would kill her."
He nods. "Ah, yes, that makes sense now. So now that you know what happened, do you remember any of it?"
"No. Last I remember I was sneaking into the Son's cathedral. Then it all kind of gets blurry. I found Ahsoka, the Son had taken over her. I was forced into fighting her. Then it goes completely blank until I woke up by you."
"I see."
"Why? Did I do something? Well, besides the obvious fact that I was possessed, of course." He shakes his head. I examine him. He looks... sad. So I didn't hurt him. Not literally, anyway. "...I said something, didn't I? Is that why...?" I point to the still-existing streak from a tear on his face.
He shakes his head. "You had no way of controlling it."
"Obi... whatever it was... I'm so, so sorry."
He smiles softly and whispers to me, barely audible. "It's okay. Everything's okay right now." We approach the ship, which was crashed, and board it. Obi-Wan sits me down on the bed Anakin had slept on earlier and rushes over to get the first aid kit. It takes all my strength to stay upright without the support from someone holding me. Ahsoka notices and sits next to me on my uninjured side, placing a hand on my back to help me stay up. Anakin crouches down in front of me.
Ahsoka examines me closely. "She's getting really pale, Master..."
Anakin pats my knee and stands up. "I'm gonna go get some food and water. She's losing a lot of nutrients right now."
"She's not gonna die, right?" Ahsoka asks, slightly panicked.
"No, she won't. Pass out, maybe, but she sure isn't gonna die. Hang in there for us, Arlo," he says as he runs off. Obi-Wan comes running back in and sits the first aid kit down, along with a cup and a bucket of water. Ahsoka helps me take off my tunic so the wound is fully uncovered, leaving my upper half only covered by a black, no sleeve undershirt with a collar that goes halfway up my neck. I look down at the wound. It's deep and crimson. I feel more nauseous than before just by looking at it.
"Oh, don't look at it, Arlo. This is going to sting," Obi-Wan says. I look away towards Ahsoka as the sting of cool water washes over the wound and drips down my arm. I wince in pain. She rubs my back comfortingly as the sting continues. "Now, this will sting even worse, I'm sorry." I smell the disinfectant bottle being opened and make a small noise in pain as the liquid hits my wounded flesh. "Ahsoka, would you go get a couple of rags, please?" She nods and runs off as Obi-Wan takes a wrap bandage and begins to tightly wrap the wound. "Oh, what have I done?" he quietly mutters to himself.
"You did what you had to do, Obi-Wan. You saved me. If you hadn't cut him out of me, the Son could've killed me too. And when the Daughter was stabbed, there may not have been enough life Force from her to save both me and Ahsoka. As far as I can tell, I'm not dying right now. It could have been much worse."
He takes a shaky breath as he ties of the bandage. "...You're right. You know, you sound a little more like me every day, little one." Ahsoka and Anakin rush back in. Ahsoka hands Obi-Wan a rag and places the others down beside him. He thanks her and carefully grabs my arm with one hand, and uses the rag to gently wipe off the blood and water dripping down my arm. "Oh, you're freezing, Arlo," he tells me as he examines my increasingly paling skin.
"I'll get a blanket," Ahsoka says as she runs off again.
Obi-Wan finishes cleaning up my arm. "Hands," he tells me. I hold out my hands in front of him, palms up, my uninjured arm extending slightly further than the other. He cups my hand in one of his to hold it steady and dips the rag in the bucket of water, wiping the now dried blood off of it. He rinses off the rag and does the same to my other hand. I put my hands down once again dips the rag in the water and wipes my blood off his own hands. He takes a new rag and wipes my arm and hands dry. Ahsoka runs back with the blanket and wraps it over my shoulders. Anakin places two rations of food and a cup of water beside me, where Ahsoka previously sat. I smile slightly in appreciation.
"Oh, thank you, Anakin, I was just about to ask," Obi-Wan says as he opens both ration packets for me. I begin to eat them, already feeling slightly better after just one bite. "I'll wash your tunic and shirt. Who knows how long it will take to repair this ship," Obi-Wan tells me. I nod as he stands up and takes the bloody water bucket outside and dumps it out.
"You take care of that, Ahsoka and I can clean this up," Anakin says. Obi-Wan nods as he goes to fill up the bucket again. Ahsoka and Anakin pick up the dirty rags and medical supplies.
"Thank you," I say to them.
"Don't mention it. You just keep eating, yeah?" Anakin says as they go to put the stuff away.
Obi-Wan returns with a bucketful of clean water and grabs my tunic from the floor. "Make sure you're drinking that water, Arlo," he says as he walks out the ship door. I nod as I pick up the cup and chug half of it, then continue eating both of the ration packs. Obi-Wan comes back in as I finish up the last of my food and grabs two towels from the other room, draping them over the back two chairs of the cockpit before placing my wet clothes on there. "I would let them dry out outside, but I think it's about to rain." I finish my water and he takes the cup and the empty wrappers and goes to throw them away. He comes back with another cup of water and hands it to me as he sits down by my side. "Do you feel any better?" I nod. "Good. Because I'd like to talk to you about that vision you had in the cave."
My heart sinks. "I really don't want to... I don't think I'm ready."
"I know you're lying. I know it's been in the back of your mind this entire time. You have a lot to say."
"How—?"
"Because I know you. Just tell me everything that comes to mind. I'm here to help you, as always."
I sigh. "Honestly? I don't know what to think of it." He nods at me to continue. "I've grown up thinking she left because of me... turns out, it was because of him. She didn't hate me, but she didn't love me enough to take me with her. How am I even supposed to react to that?"
"It's okay to be conflicted. I think if you meditate it, you'll come to feel more clear on how you feel."
"Oh, I already know how I feel. I'm grade-A pissed. Completely furious. I feel used. I've been lied to my whole life. I feel pathetic. I feel all of the angry feelings that Jedi aren't supposed to feel. But what do I think? Should I be relieved she's gone? Should I be sad? I don't know. I don't know how I need to react. Should I go and hunt him down? Should I—?"
"Take a breath, Arlo. First things first, it's okay to be angry, but you are absolutely not going to seek out revenge. That's off the table, it's completely against the Jedi way."
"...Right. Yeah. I don't know where that came from."
"That's all right. I like to call that word vomit. You say something that you don't actually mean when you're upset or angry."
I smile a bit. "That's funny. Word vomit."
He smiles at my smile. "Qui-Gon used to say that to me often. But that's beside the point. You're just unsure of what you're feeling is even grief, or anger. But remember: even though you had a... complicated relationship with her, which seems to me that it was a mostly negative one, it's okay to grieve. It's okay to be upset over it. But it's also okay if you feel relieved over her passing. That sounds bad, I know, but being relieved is much different than being joyful over her death. And it's also okay to feel nothing over this. It's a complex situation."
"I think... it's a mix of both. Initially, it was just grief, because honestly, I always thought... maybe.. one day... I'd find her again. Even though I thought she left because of me, I still wanted closure. But when I found out I wasn't the reason she left, but she didn't even think about taking me with her, I became angry. For a second, I thought... I thought she almost... deserved it."
"I know you don't really think that. And I think what you're feeling is completely normal. Meditate on it, like I said, and I think it will help you to cope with your emotions, offer some clarity. And if you need to, please come talk to me. This isn't something to deal with on your own. While I don't actually remember my real parents... I know what it was like to lose my master. Of course, I was closer to him than you were with your parents, but the feelings are the same. The sad, the anger."
"...Do you want to talk about what you saw?"
"Hm?"
"You said you saw a vision of your master in the cave."
"Oh, yes, well it wasn't as... unsettling as yours was. And I wasn't asleep like you. I don't know what it was, but just seeing him... it was slightly comforting."
"I wish I could've met him."
"Yes, I do too. You remind me of him sometimes, you know."
"Really?" He nods. "How?"
"You both have rebellious tendencies, though you both aren't much of rebels, per se... you just live more by your own rules, and you do it for the greater good. Though I will say you're slightly better at rule-following than he was. He always lived in the moment, like you tend to do. You're both compassionate and extremely witty. Occasionally frustrating," he says jokingly as I smile, "and you take your tea the same way."
I laugh. "Well then, your master had good taste."
"I don't know what you're talking about. Tea is better my way. But you all would have gotten on well, I believe."
"I think he'd be proud of you."
He smiles fondly. "Yes. I'd like to think he would be, too."
—
woah, another long chapter. dark side arlo, sad obi-wan, then nurse obi-wan, and THEN therapist obi-wan? i'm actually kind of proud of this chapter. it was interesting writing evil arlo, but mostly it just made me sad because i felt so BAD for obi-wan. like i KNOW he would be crushed. protect that man at all costs, PLEASE.
anyways, thanks for reading! -a 🪐