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beatrice-otter · 1 year

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Fic: Revenge of the Zillo Beast

Title: Revenge of the Zillo Beast Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Characters: Mace Windu & Anakin Skywalker Written For: ExtraPenguin in FicInABox 2022 Length: Gen Rating: 4140 words Summary: Mace and Anakin have killed the Zillo Beast every way they can think of in different time loops. Maybe killing the Beast won't solve the problem? At AO3. On Dreamwidth. On Pillowfort.

Mace stared down at the Zillo Beast's corpse, wishing for the thousandth time that the time loop started earlier. They'd never been able to capture the beast alive, and how quickly or slowly they killed it did not matter. Nor did it matter which direction they tried to lead the beast off. If the loop started earlier, they would have had a chance to alter the strategic decisions regarding the Beast, which might actually have made a difference.

Anakin Skywalker walked up beside him, looked at the beast, and shook his head. "Lunch?"

"We've already tried all our favorite restaurants," Mace said. "Do we want to repeat one, or ask the directory for a random restaurant in this district?"

Anakin shrugged. "Your choice. But next time, we're going to Dex's."

Mace nodded. Diner food wasn't his favorite, but he didn't dislike it; and while they had long ago exhausted the Besalisk's information on their problem, he was a hospitable being, and friend of Anakin's. "Let's be adventurous," Mace said. "It's not like either of us have much time to sample good restaurants ordinarily."

***

They ended up in a little hole-in-the-wall dumpling shop down at the very bottom of the 'respectable, but poor' levels, barely one level up from the undercity. Mace didn't think the health certificate for the kitchen was valid, but the food was excellent.

"You know, this is better Naboo-style kluski than Chancellor Palpatine's chef makes," Anakin said, chowing down enthusiastically.

"I believe it," Mace said, savoring his Haruuni fritter. "I'll have to remember this place, once the loop stops."

"If it ever does," Anakin said darkly.

That was depressingly likely. "Speaking of which, do you have any suggestions for the next loop? I think we've done everything possible we can do to or about the Zillo Beast."

Anakin shrugged. "The only thing I can think of is that whatever the loop is about, it's not the Beast. The Beast is a distraction."

"You're probably right," Mace said. "The question is, how do we figure out what the actual cause of the time loop is? We've already had Jocasta Nu and the Senate archivists working on that question for several different loops, and none of them came up with anything—not even any leads we might use for further research on subsequent loops." Indeed, several loops—ten, Mace thought, though they were beginning to blend together—had been devoted to killing the Beast as quickly as possible to leave more time to research with the archivists before everything reset.

Anakin hmmed agreement through a mouthful of food, and they ate in a companionable silence. The first dozen loops, they had had a lot more friction, Anakin's need for action driving him even when (as now) there was nothing left to be done but wait for the next loop. The younger Jedi hadn't exactly learned patience, but he had learned to pace himself, to relax at the end of the loop so that they might both be better ready for the intensity of the loop's beginning. "We've tried logic and research, and they haven't worked," Anakin said. "Maybe we need to look to the Force?"

"Spend a loop meditating, you mean?" Mace said. "Ignore the beast?"

"But the Chancellor would die!" Anakin protested.

"Not permanently," Mace pointed out. He leaned back, trying to find a comfortable position on the worn and patched vinyl bench cushion.

"Yeah, but it still feels … wrong," Anakin said. "How would you feel if I suggested letting one of your friends die in a loop?"

"I wouldn't like it," Mace said. "But it's temporary, and at this point I'm ready to try anything that isn't obviously Dark."

Anakin sighed. "Me, too."

They lapsed back into silence.

"I think we've pretty conclusively proved that there's not much point asking for help from people outside the loop," Mace said.

"If anybody does have knowledge we need, they can't get it to us before the loop resets," Anakin said.

Besides asking the archivists at both the Temple and the Senate, they'd also spent a couple of loops calling for anyone else stuck in the loop with them. First, Mace had used Temple channels to ask all Jedi to report any strange phenomena, and then Anakin had used his war hero status to get on the Holonet and ask all Republic citizens who might have information to contact them. There had been a lot of crank calls, but nothing of any actual use.

"So what do we do if the thing causing the loops isn't on Coruscant at all?" Anakin asked.

Mace shrugged. "Hope that we can figure it out, and that there's a Jedi within eight hours' travel time of it. I suppose it's possible that this is the result of some Sith magic that Dooku was trying, but … I doubt it. If that were the case, why would you and I be the ones who remember the loop? I can't imagine a Sith would want two Jedi to be in the loop with a chance of figuring things out and fixing them."

"Unless it's a plot to make us absolutely crazy by the time they end the loop," Anakin said grimly.

"In which case, it's even more important for us to take care of ourselves so that no matter when the loop ends, we're fit to act," Mace said. "But still, if that were the goal, why only two Jedi? Why not the whole Council?"

"Maybe it's just easier to get the two of us," Anakin said. "I'm the Chosen One and you see shatterpoints—we're both a bit unique in our connection to the Force."

"Lots of Jedi are a bit unique in their connection to the Force," Mace pointed out, "but I take your point."

"So, meditation," Anakin said. "It's not really my thing. Why don't we try you meditating on the loop, and me killing the Zillo Beast and saving the Chancellor?"

"I have a feeling that you're right, and that we're both in the loop because of something that we share," Mace said. "In which case, a joint meditation would be more useful."

"I don't like it," Anakin said. He scraped the spoon along the side of the bowl to get the last of the sauce and licked it. "But I can't say you're wrong. If we want to be able to meditate, we'll need to be somewhere people won't think to look for us when the Beast gets loose."

"We've had archivists look for unusual things before," Mace said thoughtfully, "but never while one or both of us was there to meditate on what they found. Perhaps we should meditate in a quiet room in the archives and have your droid sort through the newsfeeds looking for anything worth our attention."

"Sounds like a plan," Anakin said. He checked his chrono. "We've got another couple of hours before the loop resets. Do you want to meditate now, or wait?"

Mace shrugged. "All the shatterpoints disappear after the Beast dies, I don't think there's much point meditating now."

"Fair enough," Anakin said. "You got to choose dinner, so I should get to choose our evening's entertainment. There's swoop racing ten levels down from here, and two miles to the east."

Mace considered this as he dug out credits to cover their meal. Illegal swoop racing wasn't how he'd prefer to spend the evening, but it was a change. Really, he missed Depa and his other friends, and would give a great deal to be able to spend the evening relaxing with them, but he and Anakin had both learned early on that it was eerie to spend time with those who did not remember all they had been through and would forget again when the loop reset. "Fastest way to get that far down is to jump."

Anakin grinned. "I like the way you think."

…

When the loop reset, it took very little time to sneak through the Temple to the Archives, and Anakin and his droid met him in a back room. The hardest part was evading Master Nu; the Temple was empty enough, these days, that Mace barely had to try to avoid the notice of other Jedi along the way.

"What did you bring?" Anakin asked, gesturing to his bag.

"Pillows," Mace said, pulling out two overstuffed cushions from his couch. "I don't meditate well sitting in chairs, and I'd prefer not to spend the next several hours sitting on the bare floor."

"Good thinking," Anakin said, though he was young enough it probably didn't matter much to him one way or the other. He turned to his astromech and explained what they wanted it to do while Mace arranged a meditation space on the floor. He'd also brought candles and a variety of meditation aids, and some water bottles.

Once the droid was plugged into the terminal, Anakin joined Mace on the cushions and together they started a joint meditation. As with all meditation these days, the Force was not welcoming; there were shadows all around them filled with danger, and Mace didn't blame Anakin for not liking meditation; things had been growing steadily murkier and harder for years, and by the time the younger man had joined the Jedi a decade and a half ago, it had already been a far cry from the tranquil, welcoming embrace it had been in Mace's youth.

Mace tended to lose track of time during meditation, so he had no idea how long they had been at it when the Force burst out around them, shatterpoints detonating by the thousands. Mace came back to himself, lying on the floor, with an astromech bending over him and beeping in dismay. He blinked up at the ceiling, trying to gather his wits.

To the side of him Anakin was sitting hunched over, head in his hands, muttering softly in a language that sounded vaguely similar to Huttese.

"Force be with us, what was that?" Mace asked.

"I don't know," Anakin said. "But it was big, whatever it was."

"It's something new, that hasn't happened in any previous loop," Mace said, wincing at himself for stating the obvious.

"Have you noticed the Force?" Anakin asked. "It feels … weird. Good, but weird."

Mace reached out, and smiled. "It feels like it did when I was a child in the creche, before the darkness started closing in so tightly."

"Oh," Anakin said. He looked over, and noticed that Mace was on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"I am … better than I've been in a long time," Mace said, laughing at how bright and clear the Force was.

"O … kay," Anakin said dubiously, staring at him.

"But we must find out what happened," Mace said. "It is possible that whatever it was did not end the loop, in which case we must learn what it was so that we may repeat it when the loop ends."

"Chancellor Palpatine!" Anakin gasped. "If it did break the loop, and the beast kills him!"

Mace dug out his commlink and turned it on. There were, as he expected, many missed calls.

Anakin was quicker off the mark. "Master Obi-Wan, what is it?"

"Anakin, where the hell have you been? The Zillo Beast got loose and has been rampaging across Coruscant!" Obi-Wan said.

"Sorry, no time to explain, where are you?" Anakin said.

"The Senate plaza, but I'm afraid you're too late."

"What happened?" Mace said into Anakin's commlink.

"Master Windu? I'm not … actually quite sure," Obi-Wan said. "The Zillo Beast went directly for Chancellor Palpatine, and we could neither stop it nor lure it away nor get the Chancellor to safety. It—it ate him, and as it bit down, there was … something like an explosion."

Anakin sagged, and almost dropped the commlink. Mace gently took it from him, placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

"Everyone on the plaza was knocked down. The beast is … the beast is in several parts. And something has happened to the Force."

"We've noticed that," Mace said. "We'll be there as soon as we can. See if you can find the Chancellor's body."

"There's … the explosion seems to have been centered around the Zillo Beast's head," Obi-Wan said. "There may not be much left."

Anakin made a tortured sound, and Mace squeezed his shoulder. "Do what you can."

When Obi-Wan had signed off, Mace squeezed Anakin's shoulder again. "I'm sorry, Anakin."

"He—the loop might not be broken," Anakin said wetly. "It might be temporary. He might be back at the beginning of the next loop."

"Perhaps," Mace said. With each passing moment he was more sure that the loop had been broken, but he would not take Anakin's hope away from him until he had to. And he might be mistaken. Little though Mace had liked the Chancellor, the man had been a good friend and mentor to Anakin, and Mace honored that. "You don't have to come with me to see, if you don't want to. You could stay here, and rest."

"No," Anakin said. He looked up, and there were tears on his face. "I want to come. I want to see."

…

Anakin insisted on flying, which Mace was dubious about, but he had pulled himself together enough to function by the time they reached the hangar bay, and once they were in the air, he felt calmer in the Force.

"Nothing ever exploded before," Anakin said. "We've killed the Zillo Beast a hundred different ways, almost, and it always just died like any animal would. What caused the explosion?"

"Maybe the Chancellor had something on him that exploded," Mace said.

"He was a politician," Anakin said. "And not one like Padmé or Bail Organa—he never went into the field, and he always had guards. He wasn't trained in combat. He didn't wear weapons."

"If he were armed, and I doubt he was, it would have been a holdout blaster," Mace agreed. "Blasters don't explode like that unless you purposely bugger the cartridge. And even then, it wouldn't have been a big enough explosion to leave the Zillo in pieces."

"Did it eat something else, along the way?" Anakin wondered. "Something that it never did before?"

"Never in all the times we've fought it?" Mace said. "Possible, but unlikely. Besides, there's the fact that the explosion was in the Force itself, and left the Force around Coruscant clearer and brighter than it has been in longer than you've been alive. Could the Chancellor somehow have acquired a Sith artifact of some sort?"

"He would have told me, turned it over to the Jedi," Anakin said. "He knows—knew—how dangerous the Sith were."

"Not if he didn't know what it was," Mace said. "Or if his memory had been tampered with. He was a strong-willed man, but the Sith have ways of overriding that."

Anakin was quiet for a bit. "Dooku has always said that the Senate is under the sway of his Sith master," he said as they approached the Senate plaza. "Obi-Wan and I thought he was lying, but … if the Sith Master is on Coruscant, and if he had access to the Chancellor, that would explain a lot."

That was a frightening thought, but there was no time to discuss it further, for they were touching down.

…

"Anakin, I'm so sorry," Obi-Wan said as they climbed out of the speeder. They'd set down on the opposite side of the plaza from where the remains were, to avoid disturbing them. He embraced his former padawan.

Mace gave them a moment, studying the remains of the Beast from across the plaza. The explosion pattern did not match any of the common bombs or explosives he had become familiar with over the course of the war.

When Obi-Wan stepped up beside him, Mace pointed to the remains. "Does that remind you of the pattern left when a young Initiate has a tantrum and throws everything away from them with the Force?"

"Now that you mention it, yes," Obi-Wan said. "Could he have been an untrained Force-sensitive, reacting instinctively to fatal danger?" They began walking across the plaza toward it.

"But the Chancellor wasn't Force-sensitive," Anakin said. "I don't see how an artifact—even a Sith artifact—could have done that. Unless there was a Sith present? Did a Sith throw him into the maw of the beast, somehow?"

"I sensed no active Force-user besides myself," Obi-Wan said. "As far as we can tell, no explosives were used. But you may be right about the presence of a Sith or Sith artifact. Come see for yourself."

By the time they were within ten feet of the Beast, all three were grimacing. "I see what you mean," Anakin said. "That's foul. How could the Dark Side saturate this place so suddenly?"

"It's like all the darkness that has shrouded the galaxy's core for decades was concentrated into this one place," Mace said. He had a very bad feeling about the Chancellor. "We need to search his office, residence, and every other significant location we can find."

"To see if we can find evidence of the Sith Lord?" Anakin asked.

"Yes," Mace said.

…

Obi-Wan and Senator Amidala had remained at the plaza to deal with the Senate. Vice Chancellor Amedda would be sworn in as Interim Chancellor until the Senate could vote on a new Chancellor … and given the unexpectedness of the situation, the war, and everything else, it would be a contentious election.

But politics were not Mace's concern, right now. He and Anakin and the Coruscant Guard went to the Chancellor's office to search it.

"We've all been here many times before," Mace said as they strode through the corridors of the Senate building. "But don't let that make you complacent. The Sith are masters at remaining hidden. Anakin, you and I should evaluate every object with the Force; troopers, if you have any insights, please share them immediately."

"Yes, Sir," Commander Fox said briskly.

"There may not be anything here," Mace continued. "Any artifacts may be in his residence, or hidden elsewhere. Or, of course, my suspicions may be entirely wrong. But I intend to be very thorough, to be sure that we have found everything there is to be found."

"Right," Anakin said. "We don't want the Sith to slip through our fingers."

But, as it turned out, it was obvious they were not mistaken. When the doors of the office opened, Anakin turned green and clapped a hand to his mouth. Mace winced. The troopers didn't seem to react, but then, they were not Force-sensitive and their helmets covered their faces.

"How did we miss this?" Anakin said.

"I don't think it's actually that much worse than the rest of Coruscant was, before that explosion," Mace said. The intensity of it was already passing off, and it felt … almost normal and unremarkable. Familiar. It was the immediate contrast between it and the new clarity of the Force that had made it so noticeable.

"What did it do to him, to have this around him all the time?" Anakin wondered. "It can't have been good."

"If this Force-atmosphere you're talking about used to cover the whole planet, the Jedi would have been affected, too," Fox pointed out. "And everyone else on the planet."

"True," Anakin said. "And we weren't affected by it."

"Weren't we?" Mace said dryly. He shook his head. That could be pondered later. The door was flanked with large decorative vases in the heavy, dramatic, dark style Palpatine had always favored. He turned to one, placed a hand on it, and closed his eyes, reaching out with the Force.

…

cold dark

…

pinpricks

pain

…

no? he was

not

he was he was. He was. He was! He was Mace Windu, Jedi Master—

Mace wrenched himself out of the thing's grasp, and found himself on the floor.

"Are you alright?"

Anakin was crouched beside him. Fox and his men had their blasters out, covering all angles; Fox and two others had them pointed directly at the vases.

It took Mace a few minutes to pull himself together enough to realize why the Force was telling him that was a bad idea.

"Lower your weapons," Mace said, forcing words out through a brain that didn't want to cooperate. "Sith artifacts are often boobytrapped. Shooting at it might make it more dangerous." He lay back and closed his eyes, wishing the lights would stop strobing.

"I'm calling for the healers," Anakin said.

Mace nodded. He could feel Anakin lay a hand on him, the pressure grounding him in his body. He started clenching and releasing his muscles so that he could feel his body and connect with it. If they'd been on a time-sensitive mission, he could have forced himself onto his feet and gone on, trusting the Force to sustain him. But the Sith was dead and the Force was humming contentedly and laying here waiting for the healers sounded … very good.

"Turn down the lights," Anakin said, "I think they're hurting him."

"Thanks," Mace said, as the light level lowered. Even with his eyes closed, it made a difference.

Anakin called the Temple for help.

"Nu," Mace said when he was done talking with the healers.

"You want me to call Madame Nu?" Anakin said. "Is it something she can research?"

"Maybe," Mace said. "I think it's a Spirit Urn."

"A Sith Spirit Urn?" Anakin said, voice rising. "Like out of the crecheling tales?"

"Think so," Mace said. "Could be wrong. But I'd like to know if there are any long-term effects I should be worrying about." He felt much better even after this short a time, but it was better to be safe than sorry and he would rather get the all-clear from the healers before doing anything else.

Anakin made a second comm call.

"What's a Sith Spirit Urn?" Fox asked, when he was done.

"A Sith device that sucks out peoples' souls," Anakin said. "Then tortures them for … as long as the Sith who owns it wants to torture them. In case torturing someone to death isn't enough, I guess. It starts out by trapping you in cold and despair so you feel like nothing and don't have the will to resist as it slowly detaches your spirit from your body and anchors it to the urn, leaving your body as a vegetative husk."

"Are you sure we shouldn't just blast it into pieces?" Fox said.

"It can't hurt anyone as long as they don't probe it with the Force or touch it with their bare skin," Mace said. He cracked his eyes open, and found the light was not distressing, so he opened them all the way. He was steadily feeling better, but he was going to have to spend weeks rebuilding his shields.

"Or as long as the Sith Master doesn't show up and start feeding people to it," Anakin said. "Aren't they supposed to be able to do that from, like, half a planet away?"

"I think he's dead," Mace said.

Anakin paused, and looked down. "You think Palpatine was the Sith Master," he said accusingly. It was a better reaction than Mace had hoped for. "But he loved archaeology and old artifacts! It could just be something someone dug up and that he thought looked nice!"

"Dug up where, Malachor?" Mace asked. "Korriban? That's not the kind of thing the Sith would have left just laying around. You'd have to excavate a Sith stronghold to find it, there would be ancient weapons and booby traps and hazards far beyond the normal archaeological issues. Even if, somehow, you managed to do it and not understand what you were dealing with … the urn itself is fatal to anyone who isn't a Sith who touches it with their bare skin. Do you think that out of everybody from the archaeologists to the antiquities dealers to the people handling the shipping to all the people in and out of this office every day, not one of them ever happened to brush up against it? Not even once?"

"But he was always so good to me," Anakin said, helplessly.

They would have to spend long sessions with Anakin, going over everything Palpatine had said and done in their private meetings, but Mace couldn't deal with that now. "The loop can't have been something he did."

"No," Anakin said.

"Thank the Force," Mace said. "We would never have caught him, never suspected him. Not really."

"I just can't believe—" Anakin said. He was quiet for a while. "That's not true. I don't want to believe. But … you're right. There's no other explanation for the Sith Spirit Urns. Or for the way the Force cleared when he died."

"We're saved, now," Mace said. "Thank the Force."

"And thank the Zillo Beast," Anakin said.

"That too," Mace said.

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