Star Wars : Arise In The Future

Despair, uncertainty and fear.

Those were the very words that describe the end results of the people inside the Jedi Council Chamber. Witnessing the failure of the Jedi to dislodge the Sith had given them the proof that they had become stagnant and rigid, whereas the Sith evolved into a new breed that none of them had faced before.

How their combined arrogance and ignorance made them exploitable tools to Sidious that he would dispose off later.

How he had managed to draw one of the best among them to the Dark Side just as they had both directly and indirectly turned him away from the Light, and directed him into purging the very Order that were built on the foundations of peace and justice, by using the very troopers who aided them into bringing those two ideals to bear. In little time, failure clouded the outcome of both the Clone Wars and of their struggle against the Sith.

For Yoda, he could only reflect how it had come to this, and he finally came to terms; Ultimately the failure of Anakin, is a failure of Obi-Wan, which is a failure of the order.

As Grandmaster, he failed the order by letting it remain stagnant, and letting itself be grasped by the Senate's beck and call when they have not realized that it had been under the control of the Sith. His fallen apprentice was right, on how the Order had become so prideful that they didn't even bother believing him when he already told Kenobi this back at Geonosis.

He turned to his left, to find five of the occupants inside the Council Chamber to have been shattered in spirit, he could only close his eyes in both grief and of regret as he looked at Obi-Wan pleading for Anakin, not Darth Vader, to forgive him for what he had done.

But the latter assured him that it wasn't his fault, and turned to the Senator, trying to console and calm her down while repeatedly begging to forgive him for hurting her and Luke, but the Senator was so distraught that she couldn't bear to look at him in the eye that she continued to weep onto his robe.

Padawan Tano and Commander Rex, took it the worst to see the man who led them through trying times and constantly looked out for them all throughout the war, suffer a fate worse than death itself.

As for the rest, all they could offer was silence, sensing Master Yoda's own regret on the future that they have grown so desperate to avoid. As Jedi, they are taught to be at peace and not let their emotions cloud their judgement. And yet, all that they could feel is uncertainty and hesitation on their next move.

With the Sith in control of everything around them, how could they act without thinking what Sidious could do next? How could they save the Order when the Republic they defended for millennia turn against them? Those questions are what circled their minds all throughout the holotapes they had watched.

With their retrieved resolve, the occupants inside the Council Chamber continued to watch as they view the spectacle before them.

...

Lord Vader struggled to get up from the black soil, his burned body and the lack of the three limbs he once had made it difficult under these circumstances. But he was determined not to die, not now.

"It takes both hatred and unrelenting drive to survive all of that had happened to him...", Kit Fisto whispered at the horrific state that Skywalker was in, not believing himself that anyone could survive that.

Padme couldn't bear to look at her own spouse being reduced into a burned crisp, where she met Anakin's embrace where he was horrified as he is perplexed to see himself turned into this.

"There he is! He is still alive!", came the urgent voice of the Emperor, flanked by Shock Troopers Thire and Stone as they bear witness to the empty shell of a man that was once Anakin Skywalker.

The Jedi could feel the growing anger that came from both the Master and Apprentice upon hearing that familiar voice, hatefully glaring at Darth Sidious for destroying the lives that they had known for. Master Kenobi was known for his unrelenting focus in both the Force and of the Light, but all he could focus is his hatred to Palpatine, clenching his fist. "You will pay for this...Sidious", he lowly said in a whispered tone.

"Bring him to a medical capsule immediately!"

"Yes, my Lord!", Thire immediately complied as he and Stone went back to the ship in a hurry to retrieve the capsule at hand.

On Mustafar, below the red thunder of a volcano, a Sith Lord had already snatched from sand of black glass the charred torso and head of what once had been a man, and had already leapt for the cliffbank above with effortless strength.

Darth Sidious lowered the limbless man tenderly to the cool ground above, and laid his hand across the cracked and blackened mess that once had been his brow, and he set his will upon him.

Live, Lord Vader. Live, my apprentice.

Live.

...

Beneath that dome sat Yoda. He did not look at the stars. He sat a very long time. Even after nearly nine hundred years, the road to self- knowledge was rugged enough to leave him bruised and bleeding. He spoke softly, but not to himself.

Though no one was with him, he was not alone.

"My failure, this was. Failed the Jedi, I did."

There was no way that the Grandmaster could indeed deny those words, but this wasn't only about Yoda, it was through the Council as well. And even they shared his sentiments, for allowing their sworn enemy to slip under their very noses.

He spoke to the Force. And the Force answered him. Do not blame yourself, my old friend.

The Council recognized the voice; the same voice of the maverick Jedi distinguished himself between them. "Is that-", Shaak Ti spoke up.

As it sometimes had these past thirteen years, when the Force spoke to him, it spoke in the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn.

"Too old I was," Yoda said. "Too rigid. Too arrogant to see that the old way is not the only way. These Jedi, I trained to become the Jedi who had trained me, long centuries ago—but those ancient Jedi, of a different time they were. Changed, has the galaxy. Changed, the Order did not—because let it change, I did not."

More easily said than done, my friend.

"Master Qui-Gon...", Anakin spoke up, but he lowered his head in shame upon saying those words. The Master had freed him and was the closest thing he had to a father, even despite knowing him for a short time. He brought him to Order because Qui-Gon believed in him, but he ended up spitting his on memory by becoming the very being he had sworn to destroy.

"An infinite mystery is the Force." Yoda lifted his head and turned his gaze out into the wheel of stars. "Much to learn, there still is."

And you will have time to learn it.

"Infinite knowledge..." Yoda shook his head. "Infinite time, does that require."

With my help, you can learn to join with the Force, yet retain consciousness. You can join your light to it forever. Perhaps, in time, even your physical self.

Yoda did not move. "Eternal life..."

The audience became amazed, and yet unsure on what the late Master was trying to tell them. "But, it is not the Jedi way to gain immortality", Mundi spoke up, trying to comprehend Master Jinn's words.

"No, Master Mundi", Mace intervened for him, understanding what Qui-Gon meant. "It is meant something else"

The ultimate goal of the Sith, yet they can never achieve it; it comes only by the release of self, not the exaltation of self. It comes through compassion, not greed. Love is the answer to the darkness.

"Become one with the Force, yet influence still to have..." Yoda mused. "A power greater than all, it is."

It cannot be granted; it can only be taught. It is yours to learn, if you wish it.

Slowly, Yoda nodded. "A very great Jedi Master you have become, Qui-Gon Jinn. A very great Jedi Master you always were, but too blind I was to see it."

"He may have been different from the rest, but his own solve and his own creed had made him one of the best among us", Plo Koon spoke in high regard for the late Master.

He rose, and folded his hands before him, and inclined his head in the Jedi bow of respect. The bow of the student, in the presence of the Master.

"Your apprentice, I gratefully become."

"Then...would this explain why Master Kenobi continued to guide Luke?", Ahsoka spoke up, seeing the similarities from the second holotape to this. "Master Yoda taught Master Kenobi how?"

He was well into his first lesson when the hatch cycled open behind him. He turned. In the corridor beyond stood Bail Organa. He looked stricken. "Obi-Wan is asking for you at the surgical theater," he said "It's Padme. She's dying."

The atmosphere inside the Council Chamber became dark, as if a shadow had clouded before the, glancing over Anakin as his eyes widened in terror; it was his resolve to save Padme that drove him into serving Sidious in the first place. "No...", Ahsoka's voice trailed off upon hearing this, she didn't want to lose another friend as she had lost most already.

Anakin's face evolved into an ugly grimace of denial. "No...it can't be...", he uttered out, he could no longer weep when his eyes are already bloodshot from all the times he had wept for her. "She has to live...she has to live for Luke", he begged, desperately hoping she would make it through. He couldn't handle the idea of Luke growing up without his mother, when he himself wasn't there for him as a father.

There is no one to blame but you. Your desire for power became her and everyone's undoing, those were became imprinted onto his own mind as his heart raced in fear and regret, grasping his head with both hands.

Obi-Wan sat beside her, holding one cold, still hand in both of his. "Don't give up, Padme."

"Is it..." Her eyes rolled blindly.

"We don't know yet. In a minute... you have to stay with us."

...

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