lostapprentice | Empatheias Mailbox/Amulet

[ Anakin considers this for a few moments. Part of him keeps pointing out, that he's already heard much more about the future than he probably should have, but there's a lingering, almost morbid curiosity... ]

Can you tell me anything good about it?

[ Something that, for once, doesn't hurt. ]

[Grandfather, please. That's the question you ask?]

You know how subjective good is.

[Many of the things Kylo would consider good, Anakin would not, and the same goes for the opposite. But he does, at least, give a short answer to the question, even if the disdain is clear enough in his mental voice.]

Your children are still alive. I suppose you would count that as good.

[ Sorry, Ren. These are the questions he has. ]

But the galaxy still isn't at peace. There's still war, slavery, corruption...

You know, before the war it always frustrated me that the Jedi didn't even try to do something about these things. That they would only look on while beings suffered. It just wasn't right.They never even tried to help.

[Well, at least he sort of accepted the answer. A hum of agreement comes through the connection; slavery and corruption are things that will be difficult to eliminate, even if the war is over quickly.

... he has to admit he's interested in what Anakin has to say about the Jedi this time, especially since he's not being compared to them personally; he's heard a few things about how it all played out, but it's nice to have confirmation from someone still in that time.]

I've heard they were more interested in maintaining neutrality than taking an actual stance and stopping these things.

The Jedi were peacekeepers. They mediated between opposing parties to find a solution, but they wouldn't get actively involved. While they could have stopped so much injustice... They didn't. The Code bound and limited them, but they refused to change anything about that.

[ The frustration is back. ]

And ultimately it led to their downfall.

[At your hands, he thinks to himself but doesn't let through.]

It was a waste. Their collective power could have done so much for the galaxy.

The Jedi's trust in the Force forbids intervention. But... They may not have anticipated that this is what the Force has planned for them.

[ And yet again Anakin isn't entirely sure whether to speak of the Jedi in past terms or not.

Technically, they still exist in his time. ]

But it's true. They could have changed the galaxy for the better. And I still think that that's what they should have done.

I imagine they didn't, or they would have done something to save themselves.

[Or they were too stupid to. If Kylo knew some of them had become aware of the clone army's potential to be mentally controlled and yet continued to do nothing, he would think they deserved to be wiped out even more than he currently does.]

But they are destined to be gone, and so they are. [Or nearly.] Others will do the work the Jedi should have done.

Do you believe in destiny, Ren?

[ It's a simple question. ]

[Anakin gets an honest answer, though Ren wonders where he's going with this.]

I do.

And what do you think of it?

[ The idea of being destined to something... ]

I find it comforting.

[Having a place in the galaxy, being meant for something. And though he wouldn't say it... being guided by something, knowing that the difficult choices he makes are made by him alone, is something of a relief.]

I dislike the very idea of it existing. It implies that we have no control, but are merely tools.

[ As to not use the term slaves here. ]

I'd rather think that my decisions are my own. That there was more to Qui-Gon bringing me to Coruscant than destiny aiming to achieve a certain outcome...

[ To him, this is a depressing thought. ]

I see...

[It's a part of what sets them apart, he supposes. But he can't change how he feels about it, and he doesn't really want to anyway.]

Well. Perhaps you can take comfort in the fact that the Force and any destiny it may have set out has little influence here.

That's the one thing I'm actually glad about. No one's referring to me as the Chosen One and no one expects me to fulfill any prophecies.

[ He knows that the Council treated him unfairly because of their ridiculous expectations... ]

[I could only hope to be deemed so important, thinks Kylo, and though the thought doesn't slip through, a sense of his envy does.]

It's hard to believe a Chosen One would actually be informed of that title.

[It does seem like a recipe for disaster...]

They were very open about it.

[ No, Ren. This is nothing to hope for. ]

Sometimes I think I was lucky that they didn't try to lock me up at the Temple.

Perhaps they were at least smart enough to realize that would only make you want to leave.

[Even though obviously he still did have that desire.]

I wanted to leave more often than you might think. I even handed my lightsaber back to Obi-Wan once. But in the end... I had nowhere else to go. And I still could do the most good if I stayed with the Temple.

So I stayed...

Do you really think that?

[It's not as accusatory a question as Anakin might expect; it's sincere curiosity.]

That you had nowhere to go? That you couldn't have done as much good elsewhere?

I was a Padawan and owned nothing. I was... Fourteen? And my mother was on another planet. At that time I still hoped I could make a difference. That the Jedi meant to do good...

[Well, Ren could see that at that age, the galaxy would seem daunting. But...]

And you didn't consider it again after that?

I did. Usually when I had to deal with the Council. But as I grew older, I was assigned to more missions and spent more time away from the Temple.

And then the war happened.

And then you felt you had a responsibility to stay.

[One doesn't typically feel the desire to just quit halfway through a war when one is a Skywalker. ... well, okay, Luke kind of ran away from the whole burning Jedi temple thing, but he had to in order to just survive, pretty much.]

That makes enough sense.

I never wanted to betray them, but I just couldn't get myself to agree with everything the Order did or the Council decided.

[ Barriss may have been right after all... ]

But let's not keep going on about that, okay?

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