Title: A Life Not His Own
Author: Kidan
Timeframe: EoV2:Rebirth AU
Characters: Anakin Solo, Others
Genre: Dark
Keywords: AU, Anakin Solo, NJO
Summary: A rewrite of Edge of Victory 2: Rebirth starting after Anakin and Tahiri are captured.
Notes: Usual disclaimers apply. This originally started out as a Viggie for the First Sentence Challenge. When the plot bunny stew came back as a large pot, I rewrote that post to fit in with the rest of the story as it is written. Hope you all enjoy it. I would also like to thank Kilik_Twilight and Thrawn McEwok for doing the beta stuff.
A Life Not His Own
Dramatis Personae
- Anakin Solo -- Jedi Knight (male human)
- Ch’lor Akkor – Prefect, Baanu Miir (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Ch’roka Toh – Prefect, Baanu Raas (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Corran Horn – Jedi Knight (male human)
- Ganner Rhysode – Jedi Knight (male human)
- Gavin Darklighter – Commander, Rogue Squadron (male human)
- Ghrikma Clan Harr – Commando (male noghri)
- Han Solo – Captain, Millennium Falcon (male human)
- Harrar – Priest, Deception Sect (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Jacen Solo – Jedi Knight (male human)
- Jaina Solo – Jedi Knight (female human)
- Jakan – High Priest (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Kae Kwaad – Master Shaper (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Kyp Durron – Jedi Master (male human)
- Leia Solo – Jedi Knight (female human)
- Lu’ath Raptoq – Shamed One (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Luke Skywalker – Jedi Master (male human)
- Mara Jade Skywalker – Jedi Master (male human)
- Nelani Dinn – Jedi Potential (female human)
- Nen Yim – Adept Shaper (female Yuuzhan Vong)
- P’kar Slooth – Commander, The Festering Scar (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Sooh Sunq – Shaper Initiate (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Taav Uldir – Squad Leader Lorrdian Resistance (male human)
- Tahiri Veila – Jedi Trainee (female human)
- Thrikkes Clan Harr – Commando (male noghri)
- Traest Kre'fey – Admiral, Ralroost (male bothan)
- Tsavong Lah – Warmaster (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Yal Paath – Master Shaper, Baanu Raas (male Yuuzhan Vong)
- Wedge Antilles – Retired General (male human)
Teaser
Events are inexorably drawn to a lynchpin in time.
At the same moment, the door wrenched open with a squeal of metal. Tahiri stood there, a blaster in one hand.Drawn to a Temporal Fulcrum on which a specific future rises.
"Do-ro'ik vong pratte!" she shouted.
Themion, open-mouthed, turned to face her and she hit him with a Force blast that threw him three meters. He would have gone much farther, but the jaundiced wall stopped him with prejudice, and he collapsed, groaning.
"I warned you," Anakin said.
She stopped, very suddenly, when he found her face with his fingers. Her cheek was smooth and cold. He found a stray lock of hair across her eyebrow and traced lightly over the raised scars on her forehead.A future birthed, in one white-hot blinding moment.
Anakin rarely did things he didn't know he was going to do. But it had never occurred to him that he was going to kiss Tahiri until his lips were already touching hers. They were cold, and she pulled back.
Anakin used the Force to nudge the sphere away, then caught an amphistaff in the ribs and went down hard, letting his lightsaber fall from his hand. His aura was only a faint glow, flickering between dim and nonexistent. The maelstrom inside was dying away now, flowing back into the Force.
Nom Anor rushed for the detonator again. Anakin waited, waited until the executor was almost on it, then reached out with the Force one last time, rolling the sphere toward the cargo pod.
He did not hear the angry curse that followed, nor did he see Nom Anor fleeing at a dead run.
A future made event by event, link by link, a living chain of action, reaction and change.
Jaina lets the lighting flow down through her, the blast shoots out at Kyp, who deftly catches it and dispels it back into the Force. He smirks at her. "I can summon it; I can get rid of it."Alter one event and a new future comes to be.
Jacen hangs in the white. It is all he knows, all he is. She has taken his family and friends from him. Has taken him from them. She has taken the Force. And he despairs.
Tahiri feels dead inside; wrapped up in his battered robe, ignoring the looks she gets for wearing the bloodstained garment. She feels dead inside, because he is. Where he should be is just an empty gaping hole.
He tries to lunge forward, but the two men on either side of him tighten their grips, pulling him to a stop, one of them knocks his feet out from beneath him, slamming him hard down against the ground.Splinter a link and a new chain is forged.
The pressure in the Force builds to a crescendo, and Tahiri's name erupts from Anakin's throat. The sound of his scream is lost in the roar of the explosion.
Anakin presses his fingertips to Tahiri's lips once more; he stands and turns back towards Jero. The crackle of the fire behind him, and the hum of his saber are the only sounds that intrude on the scene.
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She jumps, using the Force to push herself higher, and grasps a branch. She leverages herself up, her saber held at the ready, as she watches the swamp around them. Anakin lowers himself, and backs up against the roots of the trees; his muddy head barely visible against the bark, his ice-blue eyes the only giveaway of his position. Be still! His Force command calms her, and she stops her nervous playing with her black hair. The Force command is a sign that he has a plan and a purpose. She presses her body tighter against the tree, bracing herself into a position where she doesn't need to move.
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They finally arrive at the mess, and Mara sits down at the table, while Luke goes to get them some food. As he nears the line, he feels a sharp pain through the Force, and then hears a crash. Turning around, he sees the table where Mara was sitting empty. Muttering a curse, he rushes that way, to find her unconscious on the deck.
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For as long as he can remember, he has been plagued by dreams of becoming his grandfather. Of looking out at the world through the red tinged lenses of the death's head mask. The dreams, tinged with blood and smoke and pain have haunted and dogged his footsteps as he trained in the Force. Yet as he pulls the helmet over his head, he is not afraid. It is a comforting thing; it almost feels like coming home. The helmet clicks into place, and Anakin opens his eyes onto the world. Gone are the blues and yellows and whites. Now everything is shades of red. A press of a button on his chest plate, and the sound from the nightmares of billions of beings is heard once more.
An inhaling hiss, followed by a loud mechanical exhale.
It is the sound of the labored breath of a creature which used to be a man.
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