Hero of Naboo Chapter 23 Preview

Obi-wan winced as he tried not to stumble through the halls. The second time around, this insidious sith's whispers in the Force were easier to handle.

That, or he was just getting accustom to having the Drk Side assualt his psyche.

He trully didn't want to consider that notion too deeply.

He stopped mid-step, remembering that he was not alone. He looked back and saw that Ashoka had fell to her knees, but was already trying to get back up.

Perhaps he had been wrong. Perhaps this barrage was just weaker. He hoped so, for the sake of the younglings. These recent events had been hard on them all.

He watched her for a moment, to see if she needed help. She was gritting her teeth, clutching her head, but she was slowly walking forward.

Obi-wan vaguely recalled her, the little togunta that had been with Anakin earlier. If the situation was anything else, he would be mentally preparing a joke or two about Anakin having made a friend so quickly.

He forced himself to focus, gazing forward towards the door of the council room. He wasn't sure what he'd do, what the point was of this still. If nothing else, it gave him a task to distract him from-

-The Temple exploding, Corruscant in ruins, vast hosts of warships filling the skies, billions dead, the survivors being taken awake for horrible, twisted, hopele-

He breathed deep as he pushed the aweful vision away, ignored 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. His hand was laid on the door, keeping him anchored from falling back into a vision within a vision.  He thought he knew what the Dark Side was. Perhaps not entirely, but enough to resist it, to not be so easily overwhelmed.

He thought Vader's overwhelming pressence had validated that.

He had known nothing. Vader was powerful, but his pressence was little more than a minor start compared against this truly malovent entity.

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

He shook that notion 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 quickly took stock of the circular room. It was almost entirely empty. At the center sat Master Yaddle, meditating and floating with a great flowo f soothing Force energy around her.  Their was a stern look upon her face, eyes closed with the occassional, momentary grimance

It didn't take Obi-wan long to put the situation together. Yaddle was trying to sheild off the effects of the assualt, sparing the worst of the visions and assualts 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 unconcious, just laying there. If not for current circumstances, he would thought the boy had just passed out after a long, long day. Many other Younglings had. But something felt wrong.

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

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

And he was right here, in the Tower of Tranquality, with Master Yaddle who was acting as a buffer against the Dark Side. This should be the safest place for an ungaurded 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 nhand on Anakin's head.(I don't know.)