Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo we’ve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and it’s revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.
Something I noticed.
A. Pomni not scared of Caine at all.
B. Pomni's a jester and she pretty much heckled a King since Caine sees himself as such.
C. What do Entertainers Hate? A Heckler.
Continuation of this, now with 99% more angry Chatdrien:
…
…
Chat felt the thrumming of the Lucky Charm under his fingers and threw it in the air. Just in time, it transformed into millions of Ladybugs that quickly covered Paris, spreading the Cure and fixing the damage of the fight.
Within seconds, they had also covered Ladybug, removing the poles that had pierced her and healing her wounds. He watched in hopeful awe as they restored her to life.
She…was restored, right? Please say she was restored!
Like some higher power had heard him, she gasped out, panicked and eyes wide in confusion as she started grabbing her chest—grabbing for the injuries that were no longer there and the pieces of steel that were no longer where they never should have been.
She was okay.
She was okay.
His lady was okay.
“Chat?”
She was okay, even as she squeaked in surprise—for which he was only a little sorry for. He certainly hadn’t wanted to hurt her, but he needed to know she was still there. Her voice wavered as she tried to reassure him, albeit muffled as it was as he grabbed her into a fierce hug. Taking in every breath, every pulse, every bit of warmth that was the proof she was very much alive and still with him.
She clung to him in return. Even the Miraculous Cure couldn’t erase the memories or the phantom feelings of pain and blood loss.
“Is…is she okay?” Came a voice, sounding surprisingly small for how deep it was…and how loud and abrasive it had been hours before.
Chat stiffened and shot a look over his shoulder at the intruder. His eyes widened as his pupils narrowed into slits at the sight of the man…the very one responsible for all of this.
The so-called hero drew back warily at Chat’s glare.
“I didn’t…I mean,” He gave a laugh. A laugh like something was actually funny. “Hey, at least it’s not so bad anymore. Like it never happened…”
Chat’s grip tightened around her.
He had tried to be more careful with his power, but if he could fire Cataclysm from his eyes, there wouldn’t even be dust left of the other man.
Said other clearly saw this as he backed away, smiling nervously.
“She just fixed up everything, so it’s all fine now. Everything’s cool, right?” He asked, sounding more like he was trying to convince them.
Chat growled.
The other gulped.
“Come on! It was an accident!” That little hero insisted, raising his hands up in a peaceful gesture. They were shaking, though he tried to hide it. “I didn’t mean to do anything! I was just upset. It happens to everyone! I mean, that’s Hawk Moth for you, right?” He chuckled. Like it was a joke. Like it was funny. Like he hadn’t almost destroyed the city!
Chat’s growl only increased in volume. Ladybug rested a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him, which only drew the other’s attention to her as a potential ally.
“Come on, little lady! You know what I mean, don’t you?”
Chat pulled her closer to him and maneuvered the two of them in such a way as to block Ladybug from the man’s sight.
“You don’t talk to her. You have no right to say anything to her after what you did.”
Affronted, the hero seemed to regain some courage. Or perhaps it was foolishness? Regardless, he saw fit to puff himself up and try to posture towards the already very unhappy cat hero.
“Hey! This only happened because of YOU in the first place. You’re just kids and this only proves that! If you hadn’t been so—”
He cut off as a clawed hand gripped his throat. Within an instant, Chat Noir had blurred from his place at Ladybug’s side to right in front of the man. Not that he caught it before he felt the air being choked from him. Neither had anyone else. (Robin had to rewind the tape and play it in slow motion, and even then it hadn’t caught more than a couple blips of movement.)
“What?” Chat asked, teeth glinting at the points that suddenly seemed…much sharper than initially presented. “Were we ‘mean’ to the big brave ‘adult’? Did we hurt your precious feelings?”
The other gagged and sputtered. Chat found a sick satisfaction in the scene and a desire to see if he could draw out those sounds again. Or just wait and watch that disgusting face turn as ashen pale as his world had been for the last several hours.
To say that Chat Noir was “angry” would be akin to saying the sun was “kind of hot”. A vague oversimplification that failed to do the truth justice. No words could describe the depths of his feelings in that moment, even if he were to try to name it afterwards.
Chat wasn’t angry.
Angry was quiet. Angry was passive aggressive at best and rude or snarky at worst. Angry was dropping his friendship with Chloe. Angry was wanting to throttle Hawk Moth. Angry was threatening Lila when she went too far.
Angry in this case had left the building in complete fear of the rolling and broiling emotions surging through him.
There would be no calming down. No forgiveness. No talking things out. No second chances.
Nice, sweet Adrien wasn’t here today.
Funny, joke around Chat decided to take a hike.
Any part of him that would usually be passive and positive and think of the high road was currently curled up in a fetal position, sobbing incoherently.
All there was right now was pure rage.
A swell of emotions telling him that eviscerating this idiot would not only be an awesome idea, but may even be the highlight of his year and perhaps the one thing he would never regret, damn the consequences.
Such emotions would practically be a beacon to Hawk Moth.
It is perhaps fortunate then that for all else that could be said about the man and his poor life choices, he was wise enough to figure out that this was one instance he probably shouldn’t touch. Because there was little doubt that Chat Noir would be gunning for the Butterfly user next.
But Hawk Moth wasn’t even a concept Chat was able to register at this time. He had no real awareness of his surroundings. He barely felt the hands scrabbling at his arm. Barely considered the tears in the man’s eyes. Barely wondered if he was begging for mercy.
“Chat.”
It was only her voice that broke him from his fugue. The reminder that she was in fact alive and very much there got his attention. Not enough to release the man, but enough to bring him back to reality. Just enough to draw his gaze to her own as she looked up at him pleadingly.
And how could he ever say no to her?
Without hesitation (and maybe only a little reluctantly), he released his grip, allowing the man to regain the sweet sweet air he didn’t deserve.
The “hero” fell to his knees and scrambled backwards away from him. Chat could have laughed. In normal circumstances, maybe he would have. But at this point, he didn’t feel anything but a slight disappointment and that all-encompassing rage. Dangerous feelings to be having in Paris at any point and certainly dangerous to be having right now.
He took a breath. A deep, shuddering breath as he tried to make his mind focus on anything besides how much he wanted to commit murder and blame it on the akuma. Would anyone fault him, really?
“We are not children.” He spat out. “We are not sidekicks. And we are not any sort of stepping stool for the purpose of being your ‘big breakout scene into the world superhero stage’.”
Chat glared down at the man in disgust. “We. Are. Heroes. This is our city, and we have been doing this a heck of a lot longer than you. We know what we’re doing. And we have been doing it without any sort of guidance or mentor—not because we didn’t want them or never asked, but because WE HAD TO. What’s your excuse?”
The would-be hero opened his mouth to interject, but Chat cut him off.
“No. Shut up, I don’t care. You came in here, trying to be a leader without even the slightest idea of how to be part of a team in the first place. You disregarded anything we tried to tell you and insisted on playing ‘by your own rules’ regardless of who got hurt or the glaringly obvious fact that it wasn’t working anyway.”
Not his “leadership”. Not his “battle plans”. Not his “techniques”, if they could even be called that. Nothing, literally nothing this idiot did worked despite all efforts on everyone else’s part precisely because of him. Because he was the one doing it and always ALWAYS choosing to do it the worst way.
Chat knelt in front of the guy, hissing lowly. “You know why you were easy pickings for Hawk Moth? Because you have delusions of grandeur that no amount of effort on our part could break through—and trust me, I’ve faced akumas with skin thicker than yours.”
He shook his head and stared down at the man with disdain. “You thought you’d be the next big thing? Justice League material? Newsflash! You’re no Superman. You’re not even a Booster Gold.”
“Hey!”
“Shut up.” Chat cut him off with a snarl. “You’ve fucked up enough for nine lifetimes. You wanted recognition? Well congratulations, buddy! You have it.”
The other drew back at that in wariness as Chat leaned towards him.
“Whoever you think you are? We don’t care. Whatever help you want to offer? We’re not interested. The only thing we need from you is to have the damned sense to stay out of our way.”
He growled, leaning even closer. The other didn’t dare to move, a far cry from his usual overconfident self. Chat didn’t even give him an opportunity to regain his bearing or any semblance of control over the situation. Control had long flown out the window. All that was left was to shut up and pray there would be mercy.
Because right now, Chat had none to give. Whether he knew it or not, his own bad luck magic was writhing beneath his skin, itching to be released.
And there was only one target.
“You’ve got a chip on your shoulder and something to prove. But you’re not doing it here.”
They were practically nose to nose. The pulse of something passing between them.
“So if you still think you want to be a hero? Do it somewhere else.”
There was an underlying threat to that statement. An unsaid but in no way hidden warning to not only cease hero work in Paris, but to get out of the city altogether. Because if Chat Noir caught him anywhere after this, there was a very real likelihood that Ladybug wasn’t going to stop him a second time.
The hero clearly heard that threat, because he gave confirmation through a pathetic little squeal before turning tail and running off.
Chat sneered at the coward as he watched him flee. All the more unimpressed. Even regretful that he wasn’t going to finish the job and make one less potential ally for Hawk Moth in the future.
But…
A shrill sound pieced the air from behind him, making his ears twitch. It drew his focus back to Ladybug. She was clearly unsteady and oh so drained, but still trying to force herself to stand. The earrings were beeping and she wouldn’t have much longer before she detransformed.
She needed to not be in the open when that happened.
More than that, she was still clearly suffering some remaining injury and needed to be seen to. He especially didn’t want to risk her being unprotected when that happened.
He quickly moved to her side and pulled her into a Princess carry.
“Chat.” She whispered, clutching to him. An admonishment, perhaps. But a weak one. She had no resistance. She didn’t even have the strength to try and fight him on this. Not a good sign.
“Just hang on, m’lady.” He assured her.
He shifted his grip before turning in a specific direction with only one destination in mind.
“We’re going home.”
It didn’t matter that she insisted she could walk.
It didn’t matter that she assured him she was fine.
It didn’t matter how much his hands were shaking.
He wasn’t going to let her go.
Not after that.
Not for a while, at least.
It was quite possibly the only thing preventing him from committing murder.
Oooh. That is an interesting one. A dozen ideas are swirling around and one just became clear.
Padme was not always a Sith. She was not even always a Force Sensitive. Tatooine and Shmi’s death was still the turning point for this narrative. But not in the way one would think.
The Force on Tatooine is strange, a result of Anakin Skywalker’s conception, birth, and Anakin living on the planet the first 9 years of his life. The Force on Tatooine tended to try and create additional Force Sensitives, usually by increasing the Force sensitivity of any who stepped foot on the surface.
Padme became just Force Sensitive enough as Shmi was dying in the Tusken village. In this one Anakin does not give into the darkness, he manages to release it into the Force like he had been taught. The very Force that was, in that same moment, changing Padme on a microscopic level.
Had these two events been even seconds apart, then it would have been an entirely different outcome. While enough Darkness in one location can corrupt the Force there, which in turn corrupts Force Sensitives that spend enough time immersed in it, Anakin's moments of anger and hatred, even including Shmi’s torture and death, is not nearly enough to corrupt the Force to the degree that it would overwhelm the natural shields that all Force Sensitives develop within minutes of birth/becoming Force Sensitive. Unfortunately in the exact moment that Anakin was releasing his darkness into the Force, The Force was funneling all of the excess Force in the area into Padme. Including the darkness and hatred from Anakin.
This does not make her a Sith automatically, but it does irrevocably alter Padme to a more Sithlike, read Selfish, mindset. Anidala does not get together or get married immediately after Geonosis this time. Padme is not as impulsive as Anakin and Anakin is not damaged by the murders of the Tuskens. However Padme does, on a whim, make sure to get Anakin’s comm information and start texting him.
Now Padme is not stupid, it takes her a very short time to realize something is up with Palpatine. Unfortunately for everyone Palpatine is also not stupid and, upon realizing that Padme seemed Darker than she should be, set about getting her on side. He was able to use the horrible abuses the CIS were committing against their own citizens to mobilize what was left of Padme’s morals and convince her that the Galactic Republic was a corrupt, dying beast.
It is ironic that Padme's former selflessness and idealism actually pushes Palpatine's clutches more quickly. Anakin, in being raised a slave, was slightly more grounded in the ugly realities of the world. So Palpatine could not use unfairness as quickly with Anakin as is with Padme. One thing that Palpatine teaches Padme early on is how to hide her own darkness from other Force Sensitives.
It is also Palpatine that encourages Anidala. He desperately wants the Powerful Anakin Skywalker as his apprentice and can tell that Padme is a way to get that.
I think it starts off as simply a mission for Padme, corrupting Anakin. It evolves and she comes to love him in her own way (the same way Palpatine did actually love Anakin in his own way), but it is not healthy.
This Anakin grows darker with with the war, as all Jedi do, but he does not have the additional cracks that came from his first genocide. He has not forgotten the Jedi teachings and is closer to the Jedi as a whole as a result. Because he did not reach for the darkside when Shmi died, he is able to bring up the incident up to Obi Wan, how his dreams seemed to be telling him something about his mom and she ended up dead. With the additional, much more specific information Obi Wan is able to get Anakin in contact with Seers within the Jedi order (Jedi who have significant precognition abilities who have trained to avoid some of the more common pitfalls of such dreams and visions-It should be noted that Syfo-dyas had rejected the tuition of these seers before the visions drove him mad, which was one of things that got him kicked off the high council). These Seers helped him figure out how to tell the difference between True Visions and dreams, as well as techniques for getting actionable information from any Visions he might have.
Padme does seduce Anakin and they start a relationship. They did not get married during the war, we’ll get back to that in a bit. You would think that Padme and Palpatine working together would corrupt Anakin even easier, even with the comparatively less trauma and a stronger connection to the Jedi. However both Padme and Palpatine want Anakin’s undivided loyalty and love, particularly after Padme falls in love/obsession with Anakin. Even when they are working together, they cannot help but try to undermine the other with Anakin. They are subtle about it, so he never realizes what they are doing.
This drives Anakin, with his puppydog loyalty and want for love, back toward the Jedi. Because the Jedi, as a whole and as individuals, are not making backhand compliments meant to make Anakin doubt one of his father figures or his girlfriend. Yes, Obi Wan is open about how he does not trust politicians, but Obi Wan is open about it. His comments do not have the same slimy feel that Palpatine and Padme’s tend to take on.
In this Padme does have an advantage over Palpatine. Two really. First of all she is an attractive woman who Anakin is interested in both sexually and romantically. At Anakin’s age that does often top Father figure (Palpatine). In addition Padme does have the trust of the Jedi and the Jedi’s preferred politicians, as up until her infection by the Darkside of the Force she was honest and cared deeply for the people of the galaxy. Even as a Sith Padme was not the kind of Sith to create more damage than she needed to in order to obtain her goals.
She has been convinced (much like Vader in the original) that she should be ruling the galaxy, for Padme her justification is that she needs to bring Peace and Fairness to her Empire.
At some point, maybe a year or a year and half into the war, Padme decides that Palpatine's vision no longer suits her. I picture this Padme as much like Shmi from my Empress musings, in that she is certainly amoral, but also wants to rule through adoration versus fear. Padme does not need to subjugate the galaxy to rule, nor is she bound by Darth Bane's rules. Plus she is aware enough to realize that Palpatine would get rid of her as soon as he could.
She certainly wants Anakin’s heart and loyalty to be entirely hers, but she rationalizes that if she had the loyalty of all the people the Anakin cares about, it would be effectively the same thing. Padme secretly reaches out to Jocasta Nu to see what she can learn of the Jedi. Hidden within that is looking for ways that the Jedi in their entirety, with Anakin in particular, could become hers. She finds old marriage customs that she makes plans to approach the Jedi council with.
Then she contacts Yan Dooku. Dooku has bought into Palpatine’s version of necessary but Padme knew that his ambitions were not the same as Palpatine’s. She knew that Dooku still held fondness for the Jedi Order. Padme was sure that her vision for the Galaxy (in which she was the undisputed Ruler-though she was not committed to a particular title- where she was loved above all) would suit Dooku much more than this cacophony of pain and death.
With Dooku on board, Padme finds out about the chips(Palpatine had not told her hsi full end game before). About Order 66, which is contrary to what she wants the galaxy to look like. By this point Padme doesn’t truly care about the plight of the clones, but she knows that Anakin does. She knows Obi Wan (whom she wants to possess in an entirely different way than she wants to possess Anakin). She knows that Ahsoka does (who would be her and Anakin’s first child and heir when the time came).
Padme brings the news of the Chips to Bail Organa. She comes with news of a ‘secret’ communication from Count Dooku, saying he was regretting his actions against the Jedi Order. It has just enough truth to be believable. It also very neatly highlights Palpatine’s actions. Using Bail, the news of the Chips and what they will do is brought to the Jedi, who are able to implement a temporary measure to keep Palpatine or any of his cronies from being able to issue Orders to the Clones.
The narrative that Padme carefully crafts and weaves is that, by this point, there is no way to stop the Republic from falling into an Empire. The Sith of Bane’s line have simply been preparing for too long. But, Padme proposes, they can get ahead of things they can install someone as the head of the Empire that they can at least trust not to genocide two different sets of people (Padme is careful not to suggest her own name, but she had primed the Jedi and the delegation of 2000 very well). Once she has been suggested as Empress, she even brings up the Jedi Marriage customs as a way to tie her more closely to the Jedi, and to help keep her honest. Then she can work behind the scenes to try and shift the Empire back toward a Republic (A very pretty fiction, but Padme does not need anyone to know that now).
Padme’s plan works. She is installed as Galactic Empress with the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker her Consort. Palpatine is killed in the power shift, so is not able to give away her secrets. She gains the love of the Clones by insisting, as one of her first acts, that they be dechipped and ‘freed’ (it is amazing how many clones decided to remain in her army after the dechipping, and how many are willing to forgo pay). She also finds a way to keep the CIS Droid army around (loyal to her).
Dooku convinces the remainder of the CIS to swear allegiance to Empress Padme. He does not try to pretend that he has not fallen, but maintains that the Dark Side is simply philosophical differences (this is not true). He makes the argument that all the evil Dooku did had been the result of manipulation by Palpatine (who had been revealed as the Sith) but that the Dark side itself was not the problem. He makes an argument that is compelling enough that the Jedi High Council (particularly Yoda, who desperately wants Dooku to not be an enemy anymore) becomes at least willing to entertain the idea. Officially being a Darksider is not illegal and all of the War Crimes by the CIS are being firmly blamed on Palpatine.
As the years go on, there is always a reason why Padme needs to stay Empress. She is careful to maintain her benevolent image, which is easy for Padme. She is very much a beloved Empress (Dark Side techniques mean that, as long as she is loved, she does not age). Dooku has started his own Darkside Order, and she keeps and eye on him. They are both Sith after all. A combined Army of the Clones and the Droids have conquered the Outer Rim and Mandalore (always with a rationalization).
Padme has instigated relationships between several Jedi and their Clone commanders, Including Cody/Obi Wan and Mace/Ponds as a way of distracting them from what she is doing and to keep them from realizing how much control she had over Anakin. She has no need for Anakin to be in pain, or for him to be a muder machine but she has isolated him to the point where Padme can decide every aspect of his personality, his activities, and his life. She has also convinced Ahsoka to leave the Jedi to become Padme’s apprentice.
Anakin honestly believes that he is happy, because Padme has convinced him so well that her wants are his.
For y'all's consideration - Clone Wars with Anakin who was trained by Qui-Gon.
The possible fix it is secondary here. I am specifically focusing on the dynamic of Qui-Gon the-only-authority-is-the-Force Jinn, Anakin Fuck-You-and-your-rules Skywalker and Ahsoka I-was-trained-by- Anakin-Skywalker-if-you-couldn’t-tell Tano vs poor Obi-Wan who is desperatly trying to have one normal day and clinging to his sanity tooth and nail.
Qui-Gon is probably smoking space weed, watching Anakin and Ahsoka dismantle the proper inner workings of the order and discover that there is some major sabotage coming from inside the house (the senate) while Obi-Wan has to attend four council meetings a day with at least two of those being because of Qui-Gon/Anakin/Ahsoka.
He's begging them to give it a rest for one day and all he gets is Qui-Gon's "you have to live in the moment".
That doesn’t help because he is. He is living in the moment and the moment sucks.
Ahsoka might be feeling a bit bad.
Anakin loves his big brother but generally considers him a buzz kill.
(Bonus to consider - all the snitching Qui-Gon could do of how Obi-Wan was with Satine when they first met.)
okay but new au where anakin, who has freshly died after coming back to the Light and having saved his son, gets brought back to when he was twelve and the chancellor first started mentoring him.
at first he’s so confused and grieving the life he wanted to have but had ruined with his own hands, that he doesn’t realize where he is. then anakin looks up, and there’s sheev laying his hand on his shoulder and looking down at him with all the interest of a raunchy politician in his eyes, while he smiles like a benevolent god.
then he realizes that the touch burns (his skin can’t take it, he has burned in lava and he can’t take it and he’s terrified because anakin is supposed to be dead and palpatine should be dead and—), he realizes that he can’t breathe (he can’t breathe without his suit, he’s going to die again and again and again—)
anakin throws up on the chancellor. then he disappears, unconsciously using Force speed to get him far, far away.
anakin will always be a coward, always will run from his fears until they catch up to him. bail organa finds him, miles away from where he was with the chancellor; he’s unconscious in a puddle of his own vomit, blood dripping from his nose from Force fatigue.
bail rushes him back to the temple, questions obiwan to hell and back because something IS wrong here, and now theyre both suspicious of palpatine, who keeps pestering the council about how anakin is doing.
once anakin wakes up? he’s completely out of it, he can feel, hear, smell everything around him and he doesn’t understand why, or where he is, or why he was hallucinating vokara che, of all people, or why she was being so gentle with him.
then finally, he sees obiwan, who came to the halls of healing to check on him and see if he was conscious. anakin begs his master for forgiveness, delirious with panic, pain, and hypersensitivity to basically everything; obiwan uses the force to get him back to sleep, because anakin was hyperventilating again, and he’s even more suspicious of palpatine now.
still deciding how to continue or if to continue this one, but i need to get the ideas out of my head or i implode.
