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“Cody?” the jetii called, voice lilting in a way that he could guess what was coming.
“General,” he greeted respectfully. Exactly how he usually did.
He could see the other hesitate.
“Are you all right?” the man asked, pressing ahead even though Cody hadn’t given him a subtle opening like he would have liked. He’d been more willing to forgo subtlety when it came to Cody since the incident two months ago.
“That would be why the medics were willing to let me go,” Cody replied, a small smirk on his face.
The corner of the jetii’s mouth twitched – just a bit, unnoticeable to the unfamiliar or unobservant, and Cody was neither – clearly amused.
“All right, just remember that I’m here if you have any problems. And so are a number of your brothers.” The words were soothing and gentle, an unobtrusive offer.
“I know, don’t worry. If there’s something for you to help me with, I’ll come to you,” Cody replied, taking care to not lie at all.
The other man mulled over that for a few seconds, before apparently deciding it was an acceptable enough answer, although Cody knew he hadn’t gotten off the man’s radar for worry. “Good night, Cody,” he said with a polite bow of his head.
“Good night, general.”
There was a small flinch in the force at the title, even as the man didn’t outwardly react beyond continuing down the hallway. Cody reminded himself that he needed to keep himself under control even if it hurt the man. He could make up for it later. Cody watched the jetii round the corner, continuing to his quarters.
His Obi-Wan really didn’t know when to push when it came to the people he cared about. Cody suspected that it was part of showing his care, given that Obi-Wan had to push boundaries in his work and seemed to constantly have his own trodden. But that still left the man often leaving too many things unsaid between him and others.
Well, Cody supposed that would just make things work in his favor, in the end. If Obi-Wan wouldn’t push his relationships enough, that left everything to the other party. And Cody knew by now that he was the only one in his Jedi’s life that was willing to recognize that and make up for it. He would be the only one Obi-Wan had, in the end, especially with all the things he’d give Obi-Wan once his goals were met.
Cody felt the Dark in him roll in anticipation, and let it flare out to feel it stretch pleasurably. His Obi-Wan was too far away to notice his indulgence by now, after all.
Fox was drunk, Cody could tell by the stench that hit his nose as soon as the door opened, no Force needed. The light from the hallway illuminated a stripe of the room, enough for Cody to make out an arm thrown across a table, surrounded by three bottles, cups, and a number of other random objects Cody didn’t care about.
“Fox?”
There was a groan from the darkness as Cody stepped in, letting the door close behind him.
“Co’ee?” asked a clearly pained and bleary voice.
“Fox’ika, I thought you weren’t doing this again. Makes you feel bad, remember?” Cody said quietly as he picked his way over to his vod, accidentally kicking another bottle.
“Nmmm. I felt like karking… kark. Wanted to stop,” Fox slurred out.
Cody checked on his vod in the Force, quickly finding a headache, a bleeding soul, and… Dark.
He hadn’t been imagining it, last time when he was still so new to this, then.
Fox whimpered, cuing Cody into how he was projecting his anger around the room. He tightened his control over himself, reigning the emotions back in.
He settled a hand on Fox’s shoulder, then moved it up to the man’s head. He didn’t have any healing abilities, but he could numb things a bit for his vod.
“Cody?” Fox asked, sounding bleary in a confused way, instead of a pained one.
“Hello, Fox’ika. Let’s move you to your bunk, okay?” Cody prodded.
He moved his hand back down to Fox’s neck and tugged. Fox followed obediently, letting Cody herd him to the bed and to sit down, half-slumped against the wall.
It was fortunate that this method of numbing the mind also left it malleable, suggestible.
“You were feeling bad again?” Cody asked, pushing a bit of his will, a suggestion, through the Force.
“Mm. The Jet’ika, Tano. Had to testify. Felt weird. Didn’t say what I meant to, didn’t lie, didn’t like what I said. Ran a few errands right after for the Chancellor, met with him afterwards. Don’t remember what we talked about, but felt bad after. Didn’t wanna puke, so I drank,” Fox mumbled out.
Cody wanted to ask about the errands, see which one had exposed Fox to the Dark rolling around in his head, but something else seemed off. When Fox had said he couldn’t remember his meeting with the Chancellor, he hadn’t sounded like the memories were inaccessible from alcohol, but confused like they were actually missing. The man could even remember details about the early parts of his day, but not what he was doing a few hours ago too.
“Oh, you painted your eyes to match the armor. Nice,” Fox murmured, drawing Cody out of his thoughts.
“Yeah, wanted to show that the two-hundred-twelfth is mine,” Cody said, letting an indulgent smile grow on his face.
Fox made an appreciative noise, sounding a bit floaty. He was still suggestible, but probably wanting to fall asleep soon.
“You don’t remember what you and Palpatine talked about, though?” Cody asked.
“No, just went into his office, greeted him, he goes ‘Ah, commander, glad you could join me. 'Ow was your day,’ flicks his wrist to do some’in, and then I feel dizzy. And then I’m leaving the office a few hours later and wanna puke. Had to drink,” Fox explained again, in much more concerning detail.
“A few hours?” Cody found himself asking.
“’Snot the first time,” Fox replied, sounding petulant as his words slurred with exhaustion. Cody would take it over the drunken slurring.
“Right, you should go to sleep now, then,” he suggested.
“Don’ wanna,” Fox whined, reaching out towards him, “don’ get to see you ‘nough. ‘M lonely. Can’t get sad round the men, an’ they don’ like me drinkin’. Worries ‘em.”
“I’ll keep you company while you sleep, Fox’ika. So sleep,” Cody reinforced, pushing once more with the Force.
Fox’s breath evened out a few seconds later. Cody watched him for a moment before pulling the blanket over his vod’s eyes.
He turned on the room’s lights to their lowest setting and did what he could to clean up the room. By the time he was satisfied, a few minutes had passed and Fox was deep into sleep.
Cody sat down at the edge of the bed again, settling himself before concentrating. The sect of Sith that’s knowledge had been pushed into his head during the Incident had thankfully been full of plenty of mental tricks. He could enter into Fox’s mind without much trouble and quite a bit of freedom.
It was easy to find a mass of Dark hooked into his vod’s brain and soul, constricting and making Fox fester.
Cody heard himself growl as he realized how well the mass had wormed its way into Fox, how big and well-established it was. Apparently it hadn’t been just the alcohol making Fox easier to Suggest.
He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, sitting on Fox’s bed, in his mind, pruning and tearing and doing what he could to soothe. He didn’t remove everything. The person who was doing this to Fox was clearly connected to the chancellor, who Fox saw too often for Cody to risk removing everything. He would just undo their progress, give Fox a bit more stability, remove some of the pain. If the culprit didn’t do a thorough invasive check, the difference probably wouldn’t be noticed for some time.
Cody cracked his neck as he finally stood, leaving Fox to his rest as he left the room and turned off the lights.
He had a chancellor to investigate.
Cody had to make himself loosen his grip a little as he heard his armor creak from the force he was gripping it with. But not too much, he still had to control himself.
The medics had allowed him inside the medbay if he stayed out of their way. Which meant he had to keep watching Obi-Wan – his Obi-Wan, pale where he wasn’t darkened with bruises and blood and looking so so weak – from the wall, not rush over to the battered man and hold him close or go out and tear apart those who had dared to touch him like he really wanted.
No, he wanted to be here for Obi-Wan, even if he wouldn’t be able to comfort him yet.
So that left him leaning against the wall, holding himself still, rage coursing through his veins like lava flow possessed by a vengeful ghost.
He really wanted to kill the Chancellor.
Cody made himself take in a deep breath at that thought.
He’d found a lot of corruption that came in and out of the Chancellor’s office, even more incompetence – especially militarily – that was almost costing them the war the entire mission that had led to his Obi-Wan being in this condition was on the Chancellor’s idiotic orders, and he’d all but confirmed that there was another Sith in the Chancellor’s office – possibly the Chancellor himself – yes. But that didn’t mean he could just go execute the man for all the misery he was causing Cody and his vode and his Jedi.
Except he could, couldn’t he?
Cody pushed down the thought again. It was Dark – him, yes, but Dark.
Jag approached him. “We’re going to put him under for the bacta tank, if you two need a few words first,” the medic said.
Cody nodded in acknowledgement and walked across the room, grabbing the one nearby stool and using it to sit down next to Obi-Wan.
“Co… commander,” Obi-Wan greeted him, clearly deciding to not use his name. Things had gotten too comfortable between them lately, but Cody found that he couldn’t particularly care about that at the moment.
He reached down and grabbed Obi-Wan’s hand – calloused and frail but still warm and solid – holding it gently and firmly as he answered, “general.”
Obi-Wan’s hand flinched, trying to pull back, before it relaxed and gripped back what little it could.
It didn’t have to mean anything. Holding hands with an injured person you’d shared a battlefield with was normal, it could contain the bare minimum of emotions. It could certainly contain far fewer emotions than the looks he and his Jedi had been exchanging just the other night, when they’d been alone for once and not had to worry as much. They still couldn’t cross the bridge they both knew they wanted to cross, couldn’t let this mean more than the bare minimum. Not yet.
After the war, after they weren’t general and commander, they could try to look at each other and hold hands and be with each other in the way they actually wanted. But not yet.
“You…” Obi-Wan tried to say, voice sounding as battered and tired as he looked.
“Sh, I’ll take care of everything. Just let Jag and the others get you back on your feet, okay?” Cody said.
Obi-Wan squeezed his hand lightly. “I dare say I could use a dip in a bacta tank,” the man said sardonically with a small nod.
Cody did his best to plaster on a smile as his anger seemed to seize his muscles, roiling in his stomach. He and his vode had gotten Obi-Wan to have a better definition “basic medical care” than before, but the man still didn’t like bacta tanks to the point of trying to weasel out every time it was suggested. For Obi-Wan to look forward to it…
Stipe came back with the anesthetic. Cody continued to hold his Obi-Wan’s hand as his Jedi went under, thinking about how many ways he could approach deposing a Sith-backed chancellor.
“Commander Cody,” Obi-Wan called from down the hall.
Cody stopped, waiting for the Jedi to come to him. He used the few moments to make sure his shields were locked down tightly. His Obi-Wan would be concerned if he sensed any of Cody’s bloodthirsty satisfaction still humming under his skin after the meeting.
And letting Obi-Wan catch wind of any of the Dark in him would be even worse.
Obi-Wan came within a polite, close distance before stopping, not letting himself get intimately close. On a battlefield it wouldn’t be out of place for Obi-Wan to be practically sharing his breath with Cody, but here there was no mortar fire to use as an excuse and the man wouldn’t cross the last few steps.
It was annoying.
“Madam Nu finally managed to get the records from that temple translated and sent here. You don’t have to read any of it, of course, but if you want, it might be useful to make sure there won’t be any long term effects that might have been missed,” Obi-Wan offered, holding out a data stick.
Cody was pretty sure he knew everything about the temple that had changed him at this point, but he still took the data stick without hesitation. It was still information, after all.
“Thank you, sir.”
“No problem,” Obi-Wan said with a small smile. And then his face shifted with a blink, clearly thinking, “was there something with the men you were needed for?”
Having the meeting between the regular barracks and the officer barracks was convenient, but it was apparently off enough from his usual schedule that Obi-Wan could notice.
“It was just a vod thing, nothing to worry about, sir,” Cody answered.
“Alright, let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist,” Obi-Wan offered. The man meant it too, Cody knew, but this was going to be a purely vode-led endeavor.
The Jedi, as much as Cody and his vode felt for them, couldn’t know about it until they’d finished. They were too Light, and too optimistic in the wrong ways, by and large.
Obi-Wan especially. It didn’t matter how much Cody loved the man, he wouldn’t be willing to upend as much as Cody and his vode wanted to so long as he could imagine a less chaotic path with less risk of collateral. Probably at cost to himself.
It was part of what Cody loved about him, made Cody want to wrap the man in the softest of chains and keep him tucked away, locked up and loved and safe for once. Obi-Wan would fight that sort of thing though, and Cody couldn’t keep Obi-Wan from fighting it.
Cody glanced down at the data stick and carefully did not look down the hall where he’d come from. Not yet, at least, he amended.
“We’ll do this just fine between ourselves, sir, but I’ll make sure to tell you at the appropriate time if we need you,” Cody answered, not lying in his response, even if it had moved beyond the scope of Obi-Wan’s intended question.
“Alright, commander,” Obi-Wan said, hand reaching forward a bit before the man stopped himself, forcing it back to his side, “don’t push yourself too hard, though. Have a good night.”
“Good night, sir.”
Obi-Wan gave him a small bow and then turned, walking down the hallways towards his own quarters.
Cody watched the man, noted the small, stiff limp in his one leg, and made a note to check their bacta levels. He wouldn’t be surprised to find that they had received less than they should have, as a punishment for a smaller casualty rate than the Sith sitting in the Chancellor’s office would have liked.
He was looking forward to seeing the man’s corpse.
There was a desperation, angry, scared, and stubborn in the way only a man who had hit the lowest of lows and wanted out could be. Cody used Fox’s emotions to reinforce his own spell, his chains holding him in a deadlock with Palpatine.
The guard and half of Cody’s men had all gotten electrocuted and were half way unconscious still, except for Fox.
Palpatine shouldn’t have tried to use his spell to manipulate Fox afterwards. Cody had made sure his vod had gotten back enough of his mind to fight back.
It was Palpatine’s mistake, one that Cody had been happy to take advantage of.
Which left them where they were, the two of them deadlocked with Sith spells, unable to move or change what they were doing lest one of the spells got through to kill them, with Fox slowly, painfully, stalking towards them.
The idiot was still hissing out orders, trying to make Fox listen to him, despite the chip and spells he’d been using on Fox since he got to the guard clearly not working.
Fox lifted his blaster and shot.
The stun bolt hit Palpatine in the side, the man physically shaking.
Cody could feel a few of the spells weaken, and instantly tore through them.
His attacks hit, not as well as he would have liked as Palpatine gathered himself to block and deflect. Fox fired more blasts at the man, quickly switching to lethal rounds that were similarly redirected to less lethalness.
Cody felt the Dark in the room start to tear and countered the lightning before Palpatine could form it, making the Sith’s face contort into a confused snarl. It was fortunate that the Sith arts shoved into his head had considered negating lightning a basic safety measure for learning about the Dark.
Cody tightened a force grip around Palpatine as a few more of his spells got through. Palpatine of course tried to fight it, forgetting in the few seconds about Fox, somehow.
Fox was much harder to ignore when he fired multiple shots into the man’s body.
“And how was your day, Chancellor?” Fox sneered, a meaningful disgust rolling through him and the Force.
Cody watched with glee as the final shot exited out of Palpatine’s forehead, leaving the corpse to collapse and reveal Fox’s panting, victorious form behind it.
He felt himself smile as the victory for only a few seconds before he was hurriedly, panickily, angrily pulling Fox towards him with the Force, trying to deflect the explosion.
Obi-Wan felt… destabilized.
He’d gotten the news as he was returning from his negotiation mission. That the chancellor was dead, that he’d been a Sith, that there were claims of corruption and treason, of the man orchestrating the entire war for his own benefit (and his actions combined with the Sith bit made the idea unfortunately believable to Obi-Wan).
But how it had happened was even more confusing and destabilizing. The transmission they’d gotten hadn’t made much sense, especially with the following transmissions from other generals, Jedi and non-Jedi, claiming that they needed to do various contradictory actions.
The story that seemed most consistent, and the least plausible, was that Cody of all people had led a coup against the Chancellor and the senate, and had installed himself as dictator in some fashion.
It didn’t make any sense.
He’d contacted the rest of the council, telling them he was going back to Coruscant to investigate himself.
No one had responded to his message yet, as they got permission to get into Coruscant space and send a shuttle down.
The men of Ghost Company that had been on the mission with him were clearly tense as well, probably worried for their commander and confused.
Obi-Wan couldn’t help but be worried himself.
Cody had been off since he had gotten stuck in the Sith temple for an entire week four months ago. It had been a miracle that the man had survived, only believable because he managed to send them a few comms as they tried to get him out. Until the last day, which had panicked them all.
When they’d finally gotten to Cody, he’d been comatose, feverish, and the vestiges of the Dark left in the temple had been running through Cody like he was part of the temple.
He’d been… quiet, the first few days after waking up. Cody had never been particularly loud, but after waking up he’d spoken less and his presence in the Force had felt muffled.
Cody hadn’t remembered much of what he’d done in the week he’d been stuck, and the Force had rung true at the statements.
Obi-Wan had let the man be, for the most part. He paid a little more attention to Cody but let the man handle himself. He’d slowly gotten better, and Obi-Wan had felt them settle into something more or less the same as before.
And then Cody had started… avoiding him, for lack of a better word.
Cody hadn’t limited their interactions, or shortened their conversations, but Obi-Wan couldn’t feel the emotional depth, the ease and openness, that they’d had before. Even in their more… charged moments that they refused to act on, it had felt like there was a wall between them.
It had made him uneasy, not on a personal level, but in the Force of all things.
Cody’s schedule had changed, but it seemed like he’d been spending more time with his vode and Obi-Wan had let it go despite something niggling in the back of his mind. It was a good thing for Cody to seek comfort in his vode, he found himself forcing himself to think.
And Cody had become a bit more open with Obi-Wan again as he spent more time with his vode, at least with the looks in his eyes, the yearning in his body language.
In the end, there was nothing worrying that could make Obi-Wan understand how or why Cody might have executed a coup, just the pervasive feeling that the man had been off for the past few months.
They got permission to land the shuttle down at the Coruscant barrack’s pad. Obi-Wan supposed it would make sense to return it there and let its usual maintenance get done.
He also supposed it meant that things were stable enough to keep some normality and routine.
He didn’t know if that was good or bad.
“I uh… General,” Waxer said as the shuttle slowed its descent. Obi-Wan looked over and acknowledged the man. “I just got a transmission asking you to cooperate with an escort that will be waiting on arrival?”
Obi-Wan thought for a moment, weighing what the potential situations could be. It was probably a clone escort waiting for him. If that was the case, then things would be… far from the worst scenarios, most likely. He’d be willing to cooperate with them, at least to begin with.
But if he was being told to land at the clone barracks and get escorted by a group made of non-clones… things would have gotten much more complex and far worse.
“I trust you and your brothers, Waxer,” he finally answered.
Waxer nodded.
A few moments later, the man tilted his helmet slightly, in the way vode often did to listen to transmissions. Obi-Wan could practically taste the wave of relief and relaxation that came a few seconds later.
“Don’t worry, general, the rest of Ghost will take care of you just fine.”
Obi-Wan wasn’t sure how to react, with a sentence that should have comforted him and the Force screaming at him in response.
There were indeed six more members of Ghost Company waiting for him as he stepped off. They all seemed happy to see him, in the force, but didn’t talk to him as they took his lightsaber before guiding him through the hallways of the barracks.
They got all the way to the officers’ wing before Bait finally stopped the escort and opened a door, gesturing him inside.
The door closed behind him and locked, leaving Obi-Wan alone in the room with its other occupant, without his lightsaber and the Force still screaming at him.
“Obi-Wan,” Cody greeted him warmly from the room’s only chair he was sitting in as a gleeful wave of Dark rolled through the room. Obi-Wan felt himself lose a bit of breath at the sensation, combined with the shock of seeing Cody’s eyes glow yellow from halfway across the room.
“Cody?” He couldn’t help but make his response a question.
They’d heard that Palpatine was a Sith. Not the marshal commander, the man who’d been beside him for practically the entire wa-
The Sith temple.
Obi-Wan felt the blood drain out of his face as he made the connection.
“Obi-Wan,” Cody repeated, sounding worried.
Obi-Wan felt his body freeze in indecision as Cody, the Sith, walked over to him. Cody grabbed his shoulders and observed him for a few seconds, Obi-Wan found he couldn’t do anything but stare at Cody in return, searching the man’s face, his golden eyes, for answers.
Cody sighed. “Come on, cyare,” the man said as he tugged him forward.
The title shocked Obi-Wan enough that he merely stumbled along with Cody’s directions, feeling like he’d been dumped into a different world.
Cody sat him down on the room’s bed, sitting next to him. Cody kept one arm slung across his shoulders, the other reaching over to entwine their hands.
It felt nice and warm, pleasant enough to pull Obi-Wan out of his shock after a moment of the foreign sensation.
After the war, they had said, the few times they had managed to talk around the subject of their attraction enough to address it.
“I’m sorry for having you come here, it’s not exactly a comfortable meeting place,” Cody said, nodding at the single small table and chair in the room, “but I needed somewhere secure, and the senate is a mess right now, and the temple is still on lockdown.”
“Lockdown?!” Obi-Wan couldn’t help but ask.
“Shh, yes, don’t worry,” Cody instantly soothed him, “things are still a little unstable right now. The lockdown is keeping them all safe in the same place.”
Obi-Wan mulled over that for a moment. Cody might actually be in charge of part of the situation, he at least knew more about it than Obi-Wan. The Jedi were, by some definition, being protected. The Chancellor was definitely dead. And he had too little solid information.
“Cody,” he said carefully, “could you tell me what happened while I was on my mission?”
Cody shrugged and held him a little closer before answering.
“We released a report on Palpatine’s illegal activities, declared him a criminal. He fought to the death when we went to remove him from office and arrest him, killed three vode and injured a few dozen more before Fox got him. Given how far-reaching his influence was, there was no way we could hand over control to the senate or to most of the generals without handing it over to conspirators. As the highest ranking clone, I’m in charge of the Republic now.”
Cody’s voice was calm, matter of fact. His presence in the Force was open again, unmistakably Dark now. Obi-Wan couldn’t detect a lie.
That didn’t mean there wasn’t anything Cody was hiding, however.
“And you knew he was a Sith when you released that report? Before you went to arrest him?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re in control of the Republic now, but do you have any plans to give control back to the people later on?” Obi-Wan demanded, hearing his voice harden a bit.
“Obi-Wan, we’re both aware that while there were a few people’s voices represented in the senate, vast majority of the people in the Republic weren’t given a voice. I can’t give control to ‘the people’ much more than they did. But I can run the Republic better for them than the senate did,” Cody pointed out, a cynical list of facts.
“Cody. You can’t,” Obi-Wan tried, not able to think of an eloquent response quickly enough. Not for someone he cared so much for like Cody.
“I can, I am. I know you won’t like it, but it’s for the best,” Cody said, as though the decision was already set in the stars. And Cody was right about him not liking the person he trusted most taking over the Republic.
“Co… who’s we?” Obi-Wan asked, switching tracks. It didn’t seem like he was really going to get Cody to see sense without a better understanding of what was happening. “You said ‘we released a report’ and ‘we couldn’t turn the Republic over to the senate’. Who’s we?”
“Me and most of the other officers among the vode. The rest of the guard and most of the two-hundred-twelfth. It would be most of us now, though,” Cody answered, practically casual. Obi-Wan could feel the arms still slung around him shrug. Obi-Wan tried to pull away subtly, but found Cody’s hold on him was too strong to break without visible effort.
“And the Jedi are locked up in the temple you said?” How were the rest of the Jedi? What did it mean for them that Cody and the others had taken over?
“The ones at the temple, yes. But we have almost all of you under our protection outside of it too, now. Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe.”
“Safe or caged?” Obi-Wan bit out.
“Obi-Wan,” Cody cautioned him, voice stern.
“Cody,” Obi-Wan said back, pulling out of Cody’s hold, getting some distance between them.
Cody allowed the move, the arm across his shoulders releasing him when he actually pulled. But Cody kept their other hands intertwined, not letting go or even loosening his hold. Obi-Wan didn’t fight it. It was enough to have a bit of space between them, to be able to face Cody directly.
“Did you think we didn’t feel awful when you were put in danger just because you aren’t a vod? We don’t want to see our Jedi hurt. We’re going to protect you, Obi-Wan, even if you try to be stupidly reckless.”
There was something angry roiling in the Force. Similar to the times Cody had had to watch him get beat up, but worse. So much more potent, so much more dangerous.
“Doing our duty is not stupid, it’s doing what’s right,” Obi-Wan rebutted, refusing to give in.
Cody sighed. “Ob’ika…”
Obi-Wan tore his hand out of Cody’s as he stood at the new nickname. Too close. That sort of thing wasn’t the sort of thing he wanted to hear right now, especially not for the first time. He didn’t want Cody to call him fondly, move their relationship forward, as he worked against some of the fundamentals Obi-Wan stood for. The things they had both fought and bled for.
“You talk like you could give me a good reason why I should just follow along and let you do this.” He could feel his own anger rising, a righteous thing, combining with his personal hurt and fear. He wanted to reject what was happening. To make it come undone so Cody could stay… could stay the same Cody he’d fallen for. So they could continue enduring the worst of life together, not become it as though that were the only way to escape.
“Because the result will be better than before. Things will run better. You and the rest of the Jedi and the rest of the vode will actually get to finish up the war and then stay out of danger. Things will be run with more than money in mind,” Cody tried, clearly thinking he could just talk his way out of this.
Obi-Wan snorted. He’d taught Cody quite a bit about talking, enough that the man should have been able to know better than that. And Obi-Wan had heard those sentiments before, he knew how they turned out, even the few times they started genuinely.
“At the cost of freedom. You just want control.”
Obi-Wan could hear how his voice was turning to depressed acceptance. He could vaguely acknowledge the accompanying emotions.
He needed to leave.
He backed himself up and tried to use the Force on the door.
Instead of the door opening, Obi-Wan found himself pinned to the wall beside it. Cody wouldn’t move with his physical or Force strength when he reflexively tried both.
Right. If Cody was a Sith now, he was Force sensitive and moving the man would be that much harder.
“Is that the cost, though? Or is the leash just changing hands? People are always the same. They want the power to do what they want. The senate has done it for centuries. Palpatine was doing it, and he wanted to kill you and the rest of the Jedi and the vode. I’m no worse than him. But I want you and my vode and the other Jedi to live and be happy. You’re not stupid enough to turn down the opportunity for everything to stay the same at worst if it doesn’t get better,” Cody said, voice angry and bitter and with a hint of desperation. Cody wanted to convince him, still.
“And I’m not stupid enough to willingly let a dictator walk into power,” Obi-Wan whispered, voice bitter at the betrayal, filled with steel despite the softer tone.
“You’ve done it on the senate’s orders before, though. Ah, wait, you did say 'willingly’ didn’t you?” Cody said, voice dipping down into sarcastic annoyance and something that sounded… dangerous.
The Force didn’t warn him at all before he felt something prick the side of his neck and a rush of liquid entering him. Cody was pulling the hypo out and away before he could react.
Obi-Wan instantly focused, trying to understand what was in him and where and purge it. A few seconds later, his knees shook, threatening to give out.
Cody shifted positions, catching him as his legs buckled, helping him slide down the wall in a controlled manner.
“Palpatine was a bit of a researcher, actually. That drug feeds on the Force. The more you feed it, the stronger it gets,” Cody informed him, voice gentle, even as the world around him began to become murky.
“Why?” Obi-Wan managed to slur out, feeling his eyelids sink closed without his permission.
“Because you’re my Jedi. And the rest of the clones are my vode. You’re all mine, so I’m going to take care of you, even if it takes a bit for you to understand.”
The last thing Obi-Wan managed to register was a kiss to his forehead, chaste and simple like there was no doubt that it was something Cody was allowed to do, before everything went dark.