elrhiarhodan

Title: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 38 - Illuminated, Illuminated, Illuminated
Author:

elrhiarhodan /

elrhiarhodan
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, eventual Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (but not for a long while)
Word Count: ~ 6400 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: Graphic depiction of torture of a canon character with Sith lightning, graphic depiction medical/surgical torture, psychic nightmares.

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.

But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.

Or,

Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.

He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.

Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.

Chapter Summary: Tonight, finally fed up with his apprentice’s continued failures, Darth Plagueis administers a painful and quite memorable lesson upon the mind and body of Darth Sidious.

For some reason, nearly every Force-sensitive on Coruscant experiences some of Sidious’ torment as a horrific nightmare. But it could have been worse. The Temple itself has come alive and protects its children and the most vulnerable.

From All The Spaces Between Times — Chapter 38 - Illuminated, Illuminated, Illuminated (On AO3)

Meta — Chapter 38 - Illuminated, Illuminated, Illuminated

As always, I am deeply grateful for all the love you’ve given this story, the outpouring of comments on the last chapter — the guessing on where the story is heading — makes me so very happy.

312,526 words, 55 chapters

This was another good week, writing-wise. Some important story points coalesced. I could natter on a bit about being a pantser verses an outliner, but I’m tired. It’s been an annoyingly long day. I woke up and discovered that my primary computer monitor had finally bit the dust. It’s been flickering for about six months or so, so I knew it was on its last legs. It’s also eleven or twelve years old and it owes me nothing. And frankly, I was not happy with it - it was only of those sexy and glossy screens, and it was hard to see at certain times of the day. I found a lovely HDMI one that’s enormous (32"!!!) at Costco for a very reasonable price, but forgot I needed an adapter, so had to run over to the Apple Store. Lost half a day of work, oh well.

Anyway, enough about me. Let’s talk about the chapter…

There’s a lovely Yiddish word — zetz — and like most Yiddish words, it’s not directly translatable. It kind of means to poke someone in the ass. Or to smack someone in the ass. "To give him a zetz. It’s meant to be a bit affectionate.

That’s not what Plagueis is doing here. He’s really torturing his Apprentice. In the finest of Sith traditions. Will Sidious survive? What role is he going to play in the rest of this story? I’m really worried, to be honest, how you, my readers are going to react to a plot twist that is a complete divergence from Star Wars canon.

I didn’t have this exact idea in my head when I wrote those scenes where Obi-Wan’s inhibitor collar came off, but the idea that the Temple walls were filled with protective sigils were there, in my head from the very start of this story - I always knew that when Obi-Wan’s collar came off, it would be recharging some ancient spells. I just didn’t know the exact moment when they would need to come alive (and this might be just the first time when the Temple comes alive), but I knew it would involve the Sith, and an indirect attack.

Doing this to Sidious kind of reminds me of that scene in Terminator II, at the very end, after the Terminator goes into the melting pit and the future changes forever (or until they make the next sequel). Sarah Connor’s voice-over feels very apt: "The unknown future rolls towards us…"

But in this case, we don’t have a reprogrammed super-cyborg finding humanity, we have an unknown Sith who is going to be looking for a new apprentice. One with some very tasty midi-chlorians.

I’m eager to know your thoughts on this chapter.

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