Work Text:
Jocasta was angry as she stormed through the Temple halls. Scratch that; she was fuming to the brink. (A padawan who had seen her would go on to say that they swore on their life that smoke was coming out of her ears.)
How dare they? How dare the Council send out her grandchild to another Force forsaken war. Granted, the first time, the council wasn’t told he was left in a war until after returning home, but still, Jocasta was fuming.
She stopped at the Council Chamber’s door and took a breath, then pushed both doors open and stormed in.
“Master Nu, what is the meaning of this? You are interrupting an important meeting.” Mundi declares. Mace looks at Mundi, shocked. Did he not value his life?
“What is the meaning of this?” Jocasta angrily waves around her hands. “I will tell you the meaning of this. Why is my Obi-Wan being sent out to another war? Why was he made High General?!” Jocasta demands. Even Yoda gulps at the scary lady.
“Every Jedi capable, being sent out, they are,” Yoda states.
“And the Chancellor demanded that Kenobi be High General due to his experience.” Mundi carefully states.
“Experience? Do you mean being a General at 13? Is that what you are referencing, Mundi?” Jocasta glares.
“As much as we hate to send out Obi-Wan, Jedi in general. It is needed due to the war effort, Master Nu. And due to his past, the Chancellor has made him High General.” Mace pauses. “I tried dissuading him, Master Nu, but he was adamant about the decision.”
“I came here because of Obi-Wan. However, we shouldn’t even be in this war, Council. Since when do Jedi fight in wars? Since when are we ordered around by the Republic? If we do not fix this, this will be our downfall.” Jocasta pauses. “This might be just the beginning of the war, but regardless, this could lead to the end of the Order and the Republic as we know it.” Jocasta references the visions Obi-Wan had told her. She turns around to leave, but Mundi stops her.
“Is there something that you know, and we don’t, Nu?” Mundi declares.
“It is Master Nu, Mundi. And yes, perhaps you should listen to your fellow Jedi more and heed their warnings.” Jocasta leaves.
“Mundi, you are an idiot.” Mace bluntly states.
“I should have done this first,” Jocasta mutters. She dials the comm number, and they pick up.
“Count Dooku,” Dooku answers.
“You better tell me why you decided to start a war, Dooku, or I swear on the Force you will be begging the Force to join early.” Jocasta threatens, and Dooku’s eyes widen.
“I am not a Jedi any longer, Madame Nu. I am a leader for the Separatists. What is the meaning of this call?” Dooku demands. Jocasta glares at him.
“I am aware you are the leader; you started the war. Now multiple Jedi are being sent out to their deaths as we speak. Was that your intention? To kill various Jedi? Oh, and not only that, you also kidnapped your grandson and almost had him killed. You should be glad he wasn’t. Not even the Force would be able to protect you from me.” Jocasta takes a breath. Dooku looks at her guiltily. “It gets worse, Dooku. They’re sending him out to another war. They’re making him High General because of his “experience.” Do you remember the trauma we had to help Obi with, every sleepless night, and all the horrifying stories he finally told us about? Do you remember that?
Do you remember comforting him after and promising to protect him, promising him that he will never have to fight in another war, not if you had anything to say about it? Or did you just forget? After a decade and more, he still suffers from the trauma. And yet you create this war, and now he has to return to a battlefield. Do you know how much this will break him? Having to see his family die around him and his men under him die.
And guess whom he will blame when that happens? He won’t blame you; he won’t blame the Council or even the Republic; he will blame himself. He will say he didn’t try hard enough, he could have done better, and he will blame himself because that’s what he does. He doesn’t see the fault in everyone else, only himself. Our boy is self-deprecating, and you know this because we have dealt with this since he was a child. So, do you really want to do this? Do you want the weight of this war to drown our grandson?” Jocasta finishes, and Dooku looks away in shame.
“You should be ashamed, Dooku. You should be.” Jocasta shakes her head. “This war has only begun, Dooku, but there is still time to end it. Do you not remember Obi’s vision from when he was little? Men in white armor fighting side-by-side with the Jedi? And then men in white armor storming the Temple and killing everyone, even the Younglings? This vision is coming to fruition, Dooku, and if we don’t change this war, the Order, the Republic, and the Jedi will all be gone.
I expect you to right your wrongs, I know you’re capable of it. I will talk to you later, I have another person to lecture.” Jocasta hangs up. She grabs her outer robe and then leaves for the Senate building, but first, she’ll call Anakin.
“Ah, Master Nu, what brings you here?” Palpatine asks as he looks up from his desk to see an angry Jocasta.
“What are your intentions?” Jocasta asks, and Palpatine looks at her, puzzled.
“I’m sorry?”
“What are your intentions after you win the war? After you kill the Jedi and tear down the Republic? What do you plan to do?” Jocasta asks. Palpatine looks at her wide-eyed. Jocasta had just hung up on Anakin and then received a text from Dooku stating that his Master was in the Senate. She had listened to everything Anakin had told her about Palpatine and put two and two together.
“I’m afraid your mistaken, Master Nu. I have no idea what you are talking about.” Palpatine lies.
“Let’s cut to it then, shall we? The Republic knows you as Sheev Palpatine, while the Separatists know you as Darth Sidious. Your previous master was Darth Plagueis. However, you killed him in his sleep because the learner is always plotting ways to kill the master. No two Sith can remain at the same time, it’s always a battle of power.
Your plan is to have the Jedi thinned out with this war and then have the clones kill them. Then you will have Dooku killed, so Anakin will replace him as your learner because you want to have control over the Chosen One. But first, you must get rid of all the people he cares about so he will fall.
Did you know Anakin came to Obi-Wan and me about his dreams about his mother? Did you know I went to Tatooine to retrieve her and her nice family, and now they live in Naboo? Have you just been waiting for Anakin to tell you about his mother so you can guide him toward the Dark path?” Jocasta finishes, and Palpatine snarls.
“How do you know all of this? And why are you telling me? Surely you know I can’t just let you leave alive?” Palpatine growls.
“It wasn’t hard to figure out, I just needed some information. And please, Sidious, I’m not the one who needs to be worried about leaving alive.” Jocasta darkly threatens.
Sidious suddenly starts coughing, and blood splatters come out. “What?” Sidious growls. He looks to Jocasta, who taps her face three times, revealing a cloaked mask.
“Did you think I wouldn’t come here prepared to defeat a Sith Lord? I am not an idiot, Sidious. For a full five minutes, you have been inhaling a deadly toxin. Your body has been trying to fight the poison. It was, however, unsuccessful, of course, as you are now dying.”
“Why did you just investigate now?” Sidious rasps out.
“Easy, Sidious. You decided to create a war. A war that would involve my grandson and damage him. I will not let that happen. You must die so my grandson can live happily, and the Jedi can prevail.” Jocasta explains.
Sidious falls to the floor, and the last thing he sees is Jocasta hovering above him. He joins the Force not long after that.
“I’m back,” Jocasta announces as she enters her quarters.
“Wait right there, Grandma!” Obi-Wan shouts from the living room.
“Okay.” Jocasta laughs.
“Okay, come in,” Obi-Wan says. An orange female Togruta is standing in front of Obi-Wan. “I would like you to meet Ahsoka. She is my new padawan, the Council finally okayed it after a week.” Obi-Wan states.
“It is lovely to meet you, Ahsoka. You may call me Grandma or Grandma Jojo.” Jocasta warmly smiles, and Ahsoka shyly smiles back.
“It is nice to meet you, Grandma.” Ahsoka smiles.
“And how old are you?” Jocasta asks.
“I just turned 13.” Ahsoka proudly states, and Jocasta laughs.
“Well then. Let’s celebrate this new Padawanship, shall we?” Jocasta states, and Obi-Wan gratefully smiles at her.
After dinner and watching a holo, Ahsoka fell asleep on her master’s shoulder. Obi-Wan was fondly petting her lekku. It’s only been a day, and Ahsoka had warmed up to Jocasta, and Obi-Wan immediately granted Obi-Wan had visited her a lot while she was in the creche. All the Younglings practically knew Ahsoka was going to be Obi-Wan’s padawan, but still, it was nice. Obi-Wan then turned to Jocasta worriedly.
“I don’t want Ahsoka to come with me when I have to leave with my battalion. Could you watch her while I am away?” Obi-Wan asks.
“There is no need for that. The war should be ending soon.” Jocasta smugly states; Obi-Wan looks at her confused. “The Council has decided to look into things, and it turns out there might not be a need for a war.” Jocasta simply states, and Obi-Wan puts his head back, relieved. Of course, Jocasta wasn’t going to tell him she practically ended the upcoming war in his name.
“That’s good. I was worried. I didn’t want it to be like last time.” Obi-Wan states, and Jocasta gently smiles.
“Don’t worry, that will never happen again, I promise you that,” Jocasta promises. Obi-Wan smiles and soon falls asleep, joining Ahsoka in the world of dreams.
“I will always protect the both of you.” Jocasta lovingly whispers as she drapes a blanket over the snoozing duo. Jocasta smiles and retires for the night, the day finally catching up to her.
“Mundi, Mundi, Mundi, you could have died,” Mace states as they finish watching the recording Jocasta had personally handed him.
“I’ve never seen someone so scary looking. That face she made while she looked down at Sidious will forever haunt my dreams.” Mundi declares.
“Goosebumps, I have.” Yoda murmurs, Mace scrunches his face at Yoda.
“At least the Sith is taken care of. We need to keep this quiet, though. We can erase the cameras and make it look like he was assassinated.” Mace suggests, and they all agree.
“That was like watching a horror holo,” Kit adds. “The tone of her voice as she spoke to Sidious, the way she told him he was dying. He was probably happy to die, so he didn’t have to face her again.”
“What are you happy about?” Depa asks Plo, as she can feel the happiness from his Force signature.
“While her actions were violent, she did do the right thing. She did end the war.” Plo states, he had just arrived in time for the meeting and was surprised to hear about all of this. “I am also glad that she stopped this war, so Obi-Wan does not have to go.”
“Of course you are, I have literally caught him calling you dad.” Kit teases.
“Okay, how many people have literally adopted Obi-Wan?” Depa laughs.
“Don’t we have an attachment rule?” Mundi interrupts, and all the Jedi in the room snap their heads toward him.
“You did not just say that.” Depa murmurs.
“You are so dead.” Kit whispers.
“What? It’s true. It seems that multiple people are breaking it.” Mundi defends. Plo glares at him, and Mundi wonders whose glare is scarier, Plo’s or Jocasta’s.
“I am having a good day today, so I will let you off the hook for that.” Plo coldly states. “However, if you ever, ever threaten to act on that rule, you will share the same fate as Sidious.” Plo states and then leaves the room, deciding that he wants to see what Obi-Wan is doing. Mundi gulps.
“A bit of advice, never mess with Obi-Wan’s parental figures. Just look away and don’t speak.” Mace pats him on the shoulder as everyone leaves.
His comm beeps, and he sees it’s a message from Jocasta. He gulps before opening it.
Plo told me.
Even those three words scare Mundi to the core. Kit looks over his shoulders and shakes his head.
“It was nice knowing you.” Kit states and leaves.
“Oh, Force.”