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To say any of the Jedi were tired would be stating the obvious, but to say that Mace Windu was tired would be an understatement. Chosen at a young age to be a member of the High Jedi Council due to his commitment to the Force and to the Order that he loved, he had been unanimously voted to be the youngest Master of the Order in the history of the Jedi mostly because of his attention to detail and his ability to keep calm under pressure.
What many of his fellow Jedi didn’t know was that Mace was only able to keep calm in most dire circumstances thanks in part to his lightsaber form, one he had created as a way to channel the darkness within him in a positive way. It was a dangerous line to tread and so few Jedi were allowed to even study the technique (mostly only Jedi Shadows because they already had to dance along the line between light and dark in their daily lives).
But regardless, even after all these years of mastering Vaapad Mace would still turn to it whenever he could not settle his emotions, giving himself a hard training session allowed him to release his anxieties into the Force and clear his mind - and if there was ever a time where he was in desperate need to settle his anxieties, it was now.
The message from Raydonia had been disturbing in and of itself, the needless slaughter of innocent men, women and children and the hatred expressed by the Zabrak in the hologram could be felt like a white hot flame in the Force. And then there was the emotions he had sensed from Obi-Wan, his anger while carefully shielded was palpable, his confusion and guilt were to be expected given the circumstances, but Mace didn’t like how they collected into thoughts of self-deprecation.
He could sense that Obi-Wan blamed himself for the deaths of these innocent people, and more than that he was projecting feelings of failure and inadequacies that would only cloud his judgement on a mission as interpersonal as this one. Mace didn’t think it was a good idea to send Kenobi alone - still didn’t think it was a good idea. Not only would it needlessly put their top strategist in danger it would behoove them to try and capture Maul to learn the identity of the Sith Master. But Obi-Wan felt it was his duty to rectify his “mistake” and insisted on going alone, sadly both Yoda and the Force agreed with him. Mace had been outvoted in this situation, and between that and a day of pointless meetings he needed to blow off some steam.
As he made his way to his favorite dojo he heard the distinct sound of a lightsaber cutting through metal. Now, this would not be unusual given the location of the sounds, but it was the middle of the night and so few Jedi were in the Temple at the moment who weren’t younglings, not to mention whoever it was didn’t bother masking their feelings of displeasure, so he was curious.
Mace headed towards the last salle on the left and folded his arms across his chest as he watched Anakin Skywalker demolish training droid after training droid.
The Korun Jedi leaned against the doorway, watching with the critical eye of a Master but the young man was nearly flawless in his form and his attack. Mace couldn’t help the admiration he felt as he watched Skywalker move across the floor in a deadly dance, his blue blade an extension of himself. While Anakin was definitely a continual diplomatic headache for the Council (and oftentimes Mace specifically) there was no denying the power and skill this young man possessed.
Mace just wished (as he knew Obi-Wan also wished) that Anakin would one day be able to master his emotions as well as he had been able to master the saber. Skywalker had once been described as a supernova in the Force, or like the twin suns that were native to his home planet - powerful but dangerous. Mace had been described in similar ways in his youth, in fact it had taken extra mentoring from Yoda to help calm his temper and control his raging emotions.
As he continued to watch the young, talented Knight it hit him (not for the first time) just how similar he and Anakin really were. Perhaps this is why he and the boy had specifically butted heads over the years, Anakin tested Mace’s patience in ways he hadn’t been tested since his younger Padawan years and he knew he was equally a thorn in Skywalker’s side. It was something they both had to work hard to overcome, and yet when they weren’t at odds they had a unique understanding of one another and if given the chance they probably could be close friends one day.
Maybe a personal goal Mace would set for himself in hopes of achieving it by the end of the war, and maybe tonight was a chance to take a first step.
Anakin finished the complex series of katas with an expert flourish, he then turned off his saber and moved towards a bench that was littered with his outer tunics and a bottle of water. If the sweat that had collected on his undertunic was any indication the young man had been at this intense level of physical training for hours.
“I’d be disappointed that you cut through all of these training droids if I didn’t know your repairs would leave them in better condition than they started in.” Mace said, entering the room.
“Master Windu, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Anakin said, wiping his forehead with a small towel.
“I had come here looking to tire myself out enough to sleep.” Mace admitted. “What has you here in the middle of the night, Skywalker?”
The younger man shrugged. “Waiting.”
“Ah.” Mace simply replied, it didn’t take much to gather the subtext, given Anakin’s tone. “I suppose Anakin we are here for the same purpose then. In my experience waiting for news is just about the worst test of our resolve.”
The younger Jedi let out a semi amused snort in response.
“You up for a real fight?” Mace asked, not hiding the taunt in his voice. “That is, if you’re done playing around with droids.”
Anakin raised an eyebrow, a gesture he had no doubt adopted from his Master over the years. “Huh, finally think I’m worthy enough to learn Vaapad?”
“The question is, Skywalker...do YOU think you worthy for Vaapad?” Mace chuckled and walked to the center of the room and ignited his saber, the amethyst glow illuminated his dark features and he twirled the saber, elegantly.
“How can I know if you all keep everything a secret?” Anakin’s anger seeped into his voice and Mace realized it wasn’t just about being denied a training technique.
“You may have fooled your Master and even perhaps yourself in burying your anger, but Vaapad forces you to confront it and to face the truth.” Mace positioned himself in the center of the room and lowered himself into a shallow lunge.
“And what truth is that?” Anakin asked, annoyed.
The Korun Master leaned back on his back foot, bending his front foot and held his saber in front of his chest. He then brought up his left fist up to the same level as his saber. He then began to spin the saber in a windmill motion from side to side, protecting his body from anything that could strike him.
“That you enjoy the fight,” Mace smiled, encouraging Anakin to attack. “That you take satisfaction in beating an opponent.”
“That isn’t exactly the Jedi way,” Anakin said, his own saber now ignited and pointed towards Mace.
“Precisely why so few can master it.” Mace replied, softly. “Now, I’ll make you a deal Skywalker. If I yield I will train you in Vaapad…”
“And if I yield?”
“You’ll meditate with me.” Mace replied, calmly.
“Seriously?” Anakin rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t I just fix your Astromech or something?”
“Oh no, you leave R8 out of this.” Mace smirked. “Do we have an accord?”
“Fine,” Anakin huffed. “Force, you’re as bad as Obi-Wan.”
Mace couldn’t help the smile. “I take that as a compliment.”
Without warning the Master lunged towards Anakin and hit him in the face with the hilt of his lightsaber. The younger Jedi cried out in pain and stumbled back, slipping on a puddle of sweat on the floor that he had neglected to clean up. Anakin fell to the ground, landing on his tailbone.
“Ow! What the hell?!” He cried out.
“Always be mindful of your surroundings,” Mace replied with an edge to his voice. “Surely your Master at least taught you that.”
Anakin leapt to his feet in one swift move, bringing his saber back to life and clashing against Mace’s. Both sabers crackled with electricity as they pushed against one another and Anakin felt Mace pushing down against his sword, using all of his weight. Anakin quickly slashed in an upwards arc, freeing his blade from being entangled with his opponent, but he didn’t have long to celebrate as Mace was lunging for him again.
“Your anger has unbalanced you,” Mace exclaimed. “Your refusal to let go grants me the ability to use your anger as my own - that, my boy is Vaapad!”
Mace rushed at Anakin now, his blade a blinding blur of powerful thrusts. Despite Anakin’s immense skill with his own fighting style he found deflecting the Master’s attacks to be near impossible. And the furry of swings didn’t leave the Master open for an attack, Anakin was forced to go on the defensive which was not his forte.
The older Master suddenly kicked out with a powerful blow, hitting Anakin in the stomach. The younger Jedi barely had time to recover before Mace was on him again, slashing at his head.
“What happened on Zygerria was not your fault.” Mace suddenly said, taking Anakin by surprise.
“What?” He asked as he ducked from a powerful blow.
“You have been unbalanced since Kiros,” Mace said, reaching out to punch Anakin in the face. “Your guilt is hiding your anger and hinders you, I can sense it clearly now. Zygerria wasn’t your fault.”
Their swords clashed again, and they pushed against one another again.
“It was your Master’s.” Mace whispered, softly.
Anakin’s eyes went wide with fury at this, and he felt a fire suddenly burning in his chest. Mace used this distraction to push Anakin back, disarming him. Anakin somersaulted backwards, barely missing the slash of his opponent’s blade.
Anakin circled back and tackled Mace, punching him in the face. The Korun Master flipped Anakin over his head, pushing him with his feet so he landed with a hard thud on the floor of the salle. Mace stood up in one graceful movement and called his saber back to his hands.
“Does that bother you, Skywalker?” Mace asked. “I thought you hated your old Master.”
“I am angry with him, it does not mean that I hate him.” Anakin replied, pushing himself up to his feet only to be thrown back to the ground again by Mace.
“Ah, but anger leads to hate.” Mace replied, using the Force to slide Anakin along the floor. “And all the anger in the galaxy doesn’t change the fact that your Master failed to act and it cost the mission dearly.”
“They had him in chains,” Anakin growled. “They threatened to kill Togrutas if he tried to help!”
“Would that have stopped you?” Mace asked, stalking towards Anakin with his saber ready.
“Obi-Wan is different than me.” Anakin defended, reaching out for his saber with the Force. “He’d sacrifice himself for the good of the mission. To protect the innocent.”
“And you wouldn’t?” Mace slammed himself into Anakin with a powerful blow, causing the younger man’s lightsaber to clatter to the ground “If your roles had been reversed what would you have done?”
“I...I…” Anakin let out a guttural yell and tackled Mace, flipping him over onto his back all while simultaneously calling his own saber to his hand.
Mace fell back against the padded training floor, barely able to bring his saber up in time to block Anakin’s, despite the fact that the weapons were on low he could feel the heat on his neck from the two blades. He looked up at his opponent and could see the anguish in Anakin’s eyes.
“Yield.” Anakin commanded with a growl.
“Oh Skywalker, once again you failed to be mindful of your surroundings.” Mace said, calmly.
Anakin cocked his head in confusion and was then struck by flying debris, it was then that he realized Mace was using the Force to hurl objects in the room at him, it was far too late for him to realize that Mace had used this tactic as a distraction. The Korun Master kicked out with his powerful legs and knocked Anakin to the ground, knocking his saber out of his hand. Mace called the discarded saber and held both to Anakin’s throat.
“I believe you owe me a meditation session.” Mace said with a smile and Anakin reluctantly nodded.
“Yeah, okay. I yield.” Anakin sighed.
Mace extinguished both sabers and offered a hand down to the younger Jedi. Embarrassed Anakin accepted the hand and was pulled off the ground in a less than graceful manner. Anakin accepted his saber back and dusted himself off.
“Vaapad sure feels like cheating.” He grumbled.
Mace chuckled. “It certainly can be unfair, that is true.”
Anakin then watched as Mace closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, he could sense the moment the older Jedi was able to release his anger and the residual darkness left over from the fight. Skywalker was impressed.
“What in seven Corelian hells was that?” He asked, wiping the sweat off his face.
Mace moved to sit down on the bench, gently. “That was Vaapad. In order to use it properly one must channel not only the darkness within yourself, but the darkness within your opponent.”
“How do you not fall to the darkside?” Anakin asked, bewildered and skeptical.
“There are few who can actually ride that line, Skywalker.” He admitted. “It’s not about being worthy or skilled, it’s being chosen by the Force.”
“Well, shouldn’t I don’t know...the Chosen One be able to learn it?” Anakin asked in sincerity, not arrogance. “Wouldn’t it behoove me to be the most powerful I can be?”
Mace smiled sadly. “I’m sorry if we ever made you feel like you have some cosmic responsibility. That wasn’t fair to you.”
“You don’t think I’m the Chosen One, I get it.” Anakin shrugged.
“I didn’t say that.” Mace admitted. “It is just an added burden to an already difficult life and I’m sorry.”
Anakin eyed him curiously. “Thanks, I guess.”
“Anakin, the reason I will not teach you Vaapad is because the form requires you to be able to let go of your emotions at a moment's notice. That is not an easy thing to do, and I’m afraid it’s something I have yet to see you succeed at.” Mace chose his words carefully.
“Perfect, thanks for the pep talk, Master Windu.” Anakin began gathering his belongings. “I’ll see you around then.”
“Skywalker, sit down.” Mace commanded and the younger man instantly obeyed.
The two sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes, Anakin began to wonder if this was supposed to be their meditation session or if Mace was preparing to lecture him, either way Anakin just wanted to go home.
“For the record, I don’t really think Obi-Wan is to blame for what happened on Zygerria.” Mace finally said, giving Anakin pause. “I said that to draw out your anger.”
“So, you do blame me for that?”
“No, Anakin there doesn’t have to be blame for everything.” Mace sighed. “Just because something doesn’t work out doesn’t mean we need to point fingers. It certainly doesn’t mean we hang onto it as a way to punish people. We learn from our mistakes and let it go.”
“Oh,”
“I also wanted to prove that the anger you’ve directed at Obi-Wan is fleeting.” Mace explained. “When I even suggested that there was something wrong you immediately jumped to his defense both figuratively and literally.”
“I’m still furious with him.” Anakin said in a low tone.
“I know,”
“You’re not going to tell me to forgive him for lying to me about faking his death?” Anakin looked up at the Council Member in surprise.
“Not my place.” Mace shrugged. “That’s between you and him. You both will have to find a way to get through this. But for what it’s worth there are many Knights who don’t see their former Masters very often, even less often do they go on missions together. Worst case scenario we can just split up the 212 and the 501st.”
“...oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Anakin’s eyes immediately fell to the floor.
“Of course, that is an awful lot of paperwork for me to do on my end, so are you sure you can’t work with him anymore?” Mace asked with a slight tease in his voice.
“What exactly am I supposed to do if he won’t trust me?” Anakin asked, sounding vulnerable for the first time.
“Look, Anakin.” Mace took a chance and moved closer to the younger Jedi. “I learned a long time ago that you can’t change the way other people act towards you, all you can do is have control over how you react to them. Does that make sense?”
“I guess so.”
“But I can safely say that Obi-Wan trusts you and believes in you more than you will ever know.” Mace placed a hand on the younger man’s shoulder.
“Oh yeah, then why wouldn’t he tell me where he was going this morning?” Anakin shook his head, unable to meet Mace’s eyes. “I thought he was trying to make things right after the whole faking his death thing, but once again he refused to tell me what was going on. He doesn’t trust me to be able to handle it.”
Mace Windu closed his eyes in frustration. “Damn it, Kenobi.”
“What, what is it?” Anakin looked up at the older Jedi, suddenly concerned. “He’s in trouble again, isn’t he?”
Mace knew that it was Obi-Wan’s place to share this information with his former Apprentice, but Anakin was no longer a student and had a right to know if there were threats to his commanding officer and friend. Mace would deal with Kenobi later.
“The Council received a message this morning that was addressed to him, specifically.” Mace cleared his throat. “There is a hostage crisis on Raydonia.”
Anakin quirked an eyebrow. “He doesn’t know anyone on Raydonia...I don’t understand, why was it addressed to him?”
Mace took a deep breath. “The message was sent from a male Zabrak, claiming to be Darth Maul.”
“What?!” Anakin was immediately on his feet.
“We don’t know if it is Maul for certain,” Mace tried to calm the younger Jedi down.
“I knew it, that’s what I sensed at the diner…” Anakin’s eyes flitted back and forth in frantic thought. “Oh no, no, no, no…”
Mace jumped to his feet and rushed after Anakin’s retreating form, he quickly stopped the younger man before he could leave the room.
“Master Windu, please get out of my way.” Anakin said, forcibly.
“I can’t allow that, Skywalker.” Mace replied, coolly.
Anakin eyed him suspiciously. “Please tell me he took the 212, or at the very least Ghost Company.”
“You know they are already engaged in another battle.” Mace said, hoping to keep the regret from his voice.
“So he was accompanied by another Member of the Council...right?” Anakin seethed.
“Against my better judgement Obi-Wan insisted on going alone.” Mace explained. “That was what Maul demanded, otherwise he was going to slaughter the entire village.”
“And you believe that Maul hasn’t already slaughtered those people and Obi-Wan is walking into a trap?” Anakin’s rage was beginning to boil over.
“Anakin,” Mace’s voice took on a commanding tone to help center the anxious Knight. “Of course I know this is a trap, hell, Obi-Wan is smart enough to know this is a trap.”
“Then why did you just let him…”
Mace reached out and placed both hands on Anakin’s shoulders. “Because Anakin, I can advise and I can offer to help, but Obi-Wan is free to make his own decisions. If he said that this is something he needs to do for himself, then I can’t stop him.”
“Well, then you can’t stop me from going after him.” Anakin wiggled his way from Mace’s grip and brushed past him.
“You’re absolutely right, I can’t.” Mace said, calmly. “And by all likelihood you could help him should you choose to rush to Raydonia, but can I offer you some advice?”
“What?” Anakin turned with a huff.
“Stop, take a beat and listen to the Force.” Mace said softly. “If this truly is Maul then he’ll be looking for revenge on Obi-Wan.”
“That’s why I have to go.” Anakin exclaimed. “He needs me.”
“Your Master already lost one person he loved to this monster.” Mace’s voice held an unexpected sadness. “The fear of losing another might make the situation worse.”
“You think I’d be a liability?” Anakin asked, unsure if he should feel offended or not.
“I think the fear of losing you to Darth Maul could unbalance him, yes.” Mace said, carefully. “Just like the thought of losing him to Darth Maul could unbalance you.”
Skywalker stopped. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“It’s a hard lesson to learn, believe me.” Mace said. “And most of us learn it the hard way.”
“So, I should do nothing and just let him die?” Anakin’s breath hitched. “I...I just got him back.”
“First things first, perhaps you should have a little more faith in your old Master.” Mace said with a warm smile. “He is actually quite hard to kill, and it isn’t as if there haven’t been dark forces trying.”
Anakin sadly nodded in agreement.
“Secondly, I’ve already told you that I can’t tell you what you should do.” Mace said. “You are going to have to follow the Force and do what you feel is right.”
Mace could feel the Force shift around Anakin, it was full of concern and uncertainty. After a few moments he heard Anakin’s breath tremble and the young Knight turned away from the Councilor. Mace did what he could to give Anakin a moment, hoping the boy would be able to cast his anxieties into the Force.
“Be mindful of your thoughts, Anakin.” Mace said, softly. “Obi-Wan wouldn’t want you to allow your fears to rule you.”
“Yes, Master Windu.” Anakin said, with little cheer in his voice.
Mace walked up to the young man and clapped him on his back. “Come now Skywalker, you still owe me a meditation session.”
“Can’t we just spar again, instead?” Anakin asked, with a slight tease in his voice.
Mace smiled and took his saber from his belt. “Sure, I guess I have time to knock you on your backside a few more times, Skywalker.”
Anakin rolled his eyes and tossed his belongings back onto the bench, he then took his position at the opposite end of the dojo and ignited his saber. The two Jedi clashed against one another in a flash of sparks and continued to duel one another until they had been able to release their anxieties into the Force...at least until a strange ship caked in the mud from Raydonia landed in the temple hanger a few hours later.