![[personal profile]](/makepkg/implementing-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cephyA while back, Ex-Roommate and I brainstormed a better world where Ventress was the unkillable return villain at the end of Rebels season 2, rather than Maul. Sadly, I'm pretty sure the resulting fic is never actually going to get written. But I've still got all of these notes and plot scribbles lying around, so I figured I might as well put those out into the world in case anyone else thinks that would be an improvement to canon.
Events would be basically the same as the episode up to when "old master" (ugh) comes out of the shadows. Ventress - who does not call herself 'old master' because seriously, she probably doesn't even give a name - is androgynous and unrecognizable, she is wrapped up and armoured and has clearly seen better days. Probably dressed in something like the gear she wore in Coruscant at the end of Clone Wars, except maybe with pants.
She's not exactly friendly to Ezra, especially at first; she probably doesn't want anything to do with him to start. But before too long we get that sarcastic wit and charm from her that she sometimes displayed in Clone Wars, and Ezra kind of finds himself liking her despite the abrasiveness. She doesn't BS Ezra the way that Maul does with his slimy pandering and manipulation. She's blunt about her purposes: she was there for the temple, for knowledge. She'd had visions from the Force (so many visions, they probably drove her nearly crazy, all of them demanding she go to this dead rotten world). She got all the way here to discover that she can't get in to the temple by herself. But... he might be able to help her. Tell you what, boy, if you help me, I'll share. You want information too, don’t you?
There’ll be the usual conversation of why should I trust you, blah blah. And you know what, whatever else Ventress is, I don’t believe she’d deliberately trick him here. She may have lost everything else, but a bounty hunter has to live by their reputation, a deal struck is a deal kept.
At some point, they get into a discussion on the nature of the force, and how it isn't as simple as light and dark, and to think that it is is overly simplistic. "My master wouldn't agree with that." "Let me guess, your master is a Jedi. So of course he wouldn't. The Jedi were never known for their open-mindedness." "That's not--" "The Jedi were WIPED OUT, kid, don't tell me they had it all right. They didn't want to bend, so they broke instead."
Over the course of things, Ventress warms to Ezra a bit, in a grudging, backhanded-compliment sort of way. They make their way to the temple. Open the doors, get the holocron. Maybe poke at it a little right then and there, but it’s being stubborn and won’t open. Ventress’ vision probably told her to take it up to the obelisk (or whatever it was called) so that’s the next step.
They exit the temple and find the rest of our heroes facing off against the inquisitors, who do NOT have helicopter-lightsabers, thank you very much. The reunion with Ahsoka would be spectacular, they actually ended on a pretty good note just before Ahsoka left the Order. Ahsoka would probably be aghast at the state Ventress is in, how long has she been stuck on this dead world? (Maul implied years, what the heck would he have been eating.) Maybe her ship crashed and she's stuck.
Whatever, though. Ventress fucking HATES the inquisitors. They probably hounded her after the Empire formed, they were basically created to hunt down force-users after all. They’re probably the ones who ruined her career, because no one will hire a bounty hunter/mercenary who has a reputation for losing her target or messing shit up because she can’t stop being attacked randomly by crazy Sith wannabes. She was already hella bitter at Dooku and the whole Sith family for betraying her and being responsible for the death of all of her Nightsister clan, so it wouldn’t take much more to push her into being froth-mouthed furious at the inquisitors when they show their faces.
Having it be Ventress and not Maul would automatically make it so that Ezra isn’t quite so much a dumbass about the whole thing, it would set a better tone between him and Kanan. Not so much with the “I trust him (baselessly)! Why don’t you trust me? You never trust me!” shit. Instead you’d have Ezra going “I trust her!” and Ahsoka would have to chime in with her own cautious endorsement based on how they last parted. "Well... she's not UNtrustworthy. Sort of. I think." Ezra isn't really WRONG in trusting her, not like he was with Maul. She's honourable... to a point. (Also I’m not sure why Ahsoka didn’t attack Maul the moment he appeared, she would have been witness to just how evil he was during the war and just how much Obi-wan suffered because of him. There is no way she should have trusted him even a little.)
The tricky part will be reworking the ending so things ultimately still work out the same. Ventress wouldn't pull the sudden-but-inevitable-betrayal card in the same way that Maul did. I don’t think she was planning to steal Ezra as her apprentice and kill the Jedi from the start. But Ahsoka reminds her of everything that used to be, and Kanan is too much a Jedi for her to stomach; she’s always held the Jedi in utter contempt, and the way that they were neatly tied up and slam dunked by Palpatine didn’t help that opinion any.
Something happens to trigger them to fight. Maybe with the last inquisitor, Ventress gets her blade pinned and just drops it in favour of shooting the inquisitor in the face (or maybe she scavenged her blade from the ancient battlefield and it just gave up the ghost midway through the fight, it’d be in pretty rough shape. Because she lost her own blades to Bariss in that one episode of Clone Wars). Possibly she shoots them several times. Possibly many times, over and over. Maybe the Jedi try to stop her, so she turns on them, sneering at their unrealistic, patronizing morality. She'd thought Ahsoka was going to make something of herself when she left the Order behind, but here you are still playing Jedi, no matter what you call yourself. You're pathetic. You’re just a bunch of broken children, play-acting a role that doesn’t exist anymore. Chasing after ghosts and relics. And now you’ve got a new child and you’re going to break him the same way. Maybe once we open the holocron, I'll take Ezra with me instead. (Because while initially she didn’t think that way, she probably saw some of herself in Ezra, orphaned and lost and angry and taken in by someone who wants to mold him to their image whether that’s actually what’s best for him or not.)
And they fight, Ventress trying to get up to the top of the temple, Ahsoka and Kanan trying to stop her (Ventress would have grabbed one of the inquisitors’ blades?). Maybe Kanan being blinded is an accident. Well, inasmuch as any injury can be an accident when you’re fighting each other with laser swords. But there’s a clean kill and then there’s that, so. Ventress might actually look a little surprised and maybe even regretful for a split second before she hardens again. Ahsoka knocks Ventress back, Kanan steps up to block her, Ahsoka runs ahead up to the top of the temple, as was the case in the actual episode.
So in the meantime, up on the top of the temple, the holocron is talking to Ezra as it does in the episode. It says: hm, you're not the one I expected. Implying that it was this dead Sith who called Ventress there via the visions. And... I’m not sure what to do with this part, honestly, I don’t think the temple should be a weapon the way it is in the episode (because while Maul would be all DESTROY THE UNIVERSE AAAAHHHHHH REVEEEEENNNGE, and therefore a weapon makes sense for him, Ventress is a different beast altogether. Also, giant shooty death-machines are a little clichéd for Star Wars at this point). But what is it, then?
Maybe some kind of... transference machine? Does the dead Sith want to possess someone and get back out into the world? And lacking Ventress, does she look at Ezra and go fine, I guess you'll do (implying that it can see some darkness in Ezra starting, you’re not as developed but given time I can work with this, a lot of raw potential and not much control, it’ll be easy to take over). But Ezra backs away before it can get him, and then Vader shows up and kicks his ass, and Ahsoka comes in and is awesome... ooh, maybe at some point before Ezra and Kanan get the holocron out of the obelisk, Ahsoka comes in contact with it instead? Vader knocks her flying, she hits the obelisk and there’s a spark, a flash. She hits the floor and shakes her head kind of dazed and confused but it passes quickly and things go back to normal... for now. I’m not exactly sure if that would work since Ahsoka doesn’t really have that potential for darkness the same way? But maybe that just means that whatever Sithiness gets into her would have to stay more dormant than it would in Ventress or Ezra, the spirit doesn’t really get to possess Ahsoka but more ride along and wait for an opportunity to exert influence.
So... putting the holocron in the obelisk extracts the 'soul' part of the holocron leaving only a recording behind, basically 'loading' the obelisk to posess someone. It's risky on the dead Sith's part because if no one touches the obelisk her 'soul' will eventually fade as the power drains, which is why she's desperate enough to go for Ahsoka when it looks like everyone else is getting away.
(This route would require more follow-up/sequels with Ahsoka, it would become her story after this point, effectively. Although that could be good, diverge from Ezra’s story in the canon universe entirely and follow Ahsoka on her new path, maybe have her meet up with Ventress again. And Ahsoka has a little voice in her head now that she doesn’t know where is coming from, she’s not sure she isn’t going mad. Eventually would have to work it out and go back to Ezra and get the holocron back and deal with all of it somehow. I would be all over an antagonistic yet sort-of-BFFs partnership (in the non-romantic sense of the word) between Ahsoka and Ventress going forward after they team up and defeat the Sith spirit. Because hey, Ventress may not believe in the rebellion but she sure as hell believes in kicking Sidious’ ass, and having even an ex-Jedi around is actually better than being all alone in the dead of space.)
So back to the original story, Ezra still gets away with the holocron (if Ahsoka has de-fanged it, so to speak, it would explain why he or Kanan doesn’t get possessed when they grab it this time), which would still have a recording/imprint of the Sith, even if the ‘life force’ so to speak has fled. It can still talk to Ezra, influence him, as it does in season 3, it’s just the threat of possession that’s gone. If the possession aspect has moved to Ahsoka, then Ezra’s story wouldn’t have to change regarding season 3.
Kanan needs all the hugs; I’ve wanted to fic the aftermath of season 2 for him for a while, so maybe that could be worked in as the ending of the first fic. There would need to be first aid in the shuttle, Kanan would finally let go of the Force-fueled control over himself and the shock and pain would set in. Ezra would have to step up which would freak the hell out of him because Kanan is not allowed to be this helpless oh my god what do I do what do I do. And Ezra would still be more than a little shaken by his brush with the holocron spirit, too, whatever darkness was in it kind of resonated in him and that’s a very unsettling feeling. He's suddenly very aware of that seed of darkness in him. I think there would have to be some tough conversations between the two of them here. It’s a real bonding moment. I love my space family.
But mostly from whatever point Ventress gets taken out of the game this time around, things would go very much the same as they did in the actual episode so I don’t know how much more it would be appropriate to write on this one. Ezra and Kanan’s aftermath could be the ending of this fic, and then Ahsoka and Ventress would pick up the focus of the sequel.
Although if I can work in a bit where Ventress sees Vader before she leaves the planet... she’s skulking around, injured, waiting until she can steal the dead inquisitor’s ship and leave unnoticed. Sees Vader limping away from his encounter with Ahsoka, recognizes him somehow, and starts laughing long and hard in the way that a not-very-nice person laughs when seeing a cruel irony from the outside. Would they talk to each other? Would she chance that? He looked pretty hurt at the end of the episode, but he’s Vader, he’s never helpless. And she would be hurt as well. And there would be enough thwarted anger and frustration and hurt and general darkness roiling off him at this point that she may have just held her breath and hid until he was gone, then sealed herself in the ship cockpit and laughed until she couldn’t breathe. (In Clone Wars, she recognized Anakin and knew who he was even though she was facing away and he was wearing a hood, so this speaks well to her being able to sense people’s identity through the force.)
Question: what happens between Ahsoka and Vader between the time when Ezra is sealed off from them and the end of the episode? We go from “I’m not leaving you, not again” and Vader attacking, to Vader limping off alone looking like he lost and Ahsoka showing no obvious impaired movement or damage as she goes down some dark stairwell (having apparently left him after all, or maybe part of the temple collapsed between them and forced an end to the confrontation. OR does the holocron spirit have something to do with it? A moment of weakness in Ahsoka’s mental fortitude (overcome by grief/guilt over Anakin?) means that the Sith takes over briefly, and the next thing Ahsoka knows she’s alone and half the ceiling is collapsed and she has no idea where Vader went).
Question: is Darth Zannah canon or fan-created? I think she was Bane’s apprentice, so, canon? If so, the holocron could totally be hers. Maybe the temple is her tomb. We wouldn’t find out it's her right away, though, it would only be after Ahsoka has spent some time hearing a voice and thinking that she was going nuts and eventually realizing that there really is someone else in her head that Zannah would reveal her identity. What would be Zannah's motivation in coming back to ‘life’? Does she dislike the current scion of Bane? Would she actually support Ahsoka’s fight against Sidious? Possibly for some selfish reason, but even so. If they come to some kind of agreement then it could give Ahsoka greater power BUT also give Zannah greater control and more of a potential to take over completely. If that goes on too long, it could be very hard to force Zannah back into her holocron at the end.
...yeah, that's it. *bows*
Events would be basically the same as the episode up to when "old master" (ugh) comes out of the shadows. Ventress - who does not call herself 'old master' because seriously, she probably doesn't even give a name - is androgynous and unrecognizable, she is wrapped up and armoured and has clearly seen better days. Probably dressed in something like the gear she wore in Coruscant at the end of Clone Wars, except maybe with pants.
She's not exactly friendly to Ezra, especially at first; she probably doesn't want anything to do with him to start. But before too long we get that sarcastic wit and charm from her that she sometimes displayed in Clone Wars, and Ezra kind of finds himself liking her despite the abrasiveness. She doesn't BS Ezra the way that Maul does with his slimy pandering and manipulation. She's blunt about her purposes: she was there for the temple, for knowledge. She'd had visions from the Force (so many visions, they probably drove her nearly crazy, all of them demanding she go to this dead rotten world). She got all the way here to discover that she can't get in to the temple by herself. But... he might be able to help her. Tell you what, boy, if you help me, I'll share. You want information too, don’t you?
There’ll be the usual conversation of why should I trust you, blah blah. And you know what, whatever else Ventress is, I don’t believe she’d deliberately trick him here. She may have lost everything else, but a bounty hunter has to live by their reputation, a deal struck is a deal kept.
At some point, they get into a discussion on the nature of the force, and how it isn't as simple as light and dark, and to think that it is is overly simplistic. "My master wouldn't agree with that." "Let me guess, your master is a Jedi. So of course he wouldn't. The Jedi were never known for their open-mindedness." "That's not--" "The Jedi were WIPED OUT, kid, don't tell me they had it all right. They didn't want to bend, so they broke instead."
Over the course of things, Ventress warms to Ezra a bit, in a grudging, backhanded-compliment sort of way. They make their way to the temple. Open the doors, get the holocron. Maybe poke at it a little right then and there, but it’s being stubborn and won’t open. Ventress’ vision probably told her to take it up to the obelisk (or whatever it was called) so that’s the next step.
They exit the temple and find the rest of our heroes facing off against the inquisitors, who do NOT have helicopter-lightsabers, thank you very much. The reunion with Ahsoka would be spectacular, they actually ended on a pretty good note just before Ahsoka left the Order. Ahsoka would probably be aghast at the state Ventress is in, how long has she been stuck on this dead world? (Maul implied years, what the heck would he have been eating.) Maybe her ship crashed and she's stuck.
Whatever, though. Ventress fucking HATES the inquisitors. They probably hounded her after the Empire formed, they were basically created to hunt down force-users after all. They’re probably the ones who ruined her career, because no one will hire a bounty hunter/mercenary who has a reputation for losing her target or messing shit up because she can’t stop being attacked randomly by crazy Sith wannabes. She was already hella bitter at Dooku and the whole Sith family for betraying her and being responsible for the death of all of her Nightsister clan, so it wouldn’t take much more to push her into being froth-mouthed furious at the inquisitors when they show their faces.
Having it be Ventress and not Maul would automatically make it so that Ezra isn’t quite so much a dumbass about the whole thing, it would set a better tone between him and Kanan. Not so much with the “I trust him (baselessly)! Why don’t you trust me? You never trust me!” shit. Instead you’d have Ezra going “I trust her!” and Ahsoka would have to chime in with her own cautious endorsement based on how they last parted. "Well... she's not UNtrustworthy. Sort of. I think." Ezra isn't really WRONG in trusting her, not like he was with Maul. She's honourable... to a point. (Also I’m not sure why Ahsoka didn’t attack Maul the moment he appeared, she would have been witness to just how evil he was during the war and just how much Obi-wan suffered because of him. There is no way she should have trusted him even a little.)
The tricky part will be reworking the ending so things ultimately still work out the same. Ventress wouldn't pull the sudden-but-inevitable-betrayal card in the same way that Maul did. I don’t think she was planning to steal Ezra as her apprentice and kill the Jedi from the start. But Ahsoka reminds her of everything that used to be, and Kanan is too much a Jedi for her to stomach; she’s always held the Jedi in utter contempt, and the way that they were neatly tied up and slam dunked by Palpatine didn’t help that opinion any.
Something happens to trigger them to fight. Maybe with the last inquisitor, Ventress gets her blade pinned and just drops it in favour of shooting the inquisitor in the face (or maybe she scavenged her blade from the ancient battlefield and it just gave up the ghost midway through the fight, it’d be in pretty rough shape. Because she lost her own blades to Bariss in that one episode of Clone Wars). Possibly she shoots them several times. Possibly many times, over and over. Maybe the Jedi try to stop her, so she turns on them, sneering at their unrealistic, patronizing morality. She'd thought Ahsoka was going to make something of herself when she left the Order behind, but here you are still playing Jedi, no matter what you call yourself. You're pathetic. You’re just a bunch of broken children, play-acting a role that doesn’t exist anymore. Chasing after ghosts and relics. And now you’ve got a new child and you’re going to break him the same way. Maybe once we open the holocron, I'll take Ezra with me instead. (Because while initially she didn’t think that way, she probably saw some of herself in Ezra, orphaned and lost and angry and taken in by someone who wants to mold him to their image whether that’s actually what’s best for him or not.)
And they fight, Ventress trying to get up to the top of the temple, Ahsoka and Kanan trying to stop her (Ventress would have grabbed one of the inquisitors’ blades?). Maybe Kanan being blinded is an accident. Well, inasmuch as any injury can be an accident when you’re fighting each other with laser swords. But there’s a clean kill and then there’s that, so. Ventress might actually look a little surprised and maybe even regretful for a split second before she hardens again. Ahsoka knocks Ventress back, Kanan steps up to block her, Ahsoka runs ahead up to the top of the temple, as was the case in the actual episode.
So in the meantime, up on the top of the temple, the holocron is talking to Ezra as it does in the episode. It says: hm, you're not the one I expected. Implying that it was this dead Sith who called Ventress there via the visions. And... I’m not sure what to do with this part, honestly, I don’t think the temple should be a weapon the way it is in the episode (because while Maul would be all DESTROY THE UNIVERSE AAAAHHHHHH REVEEEEENNNGE, and therefore a weapon makes sense for him, Ventress is a different beast altogether. Also, giant shooty death-machines are a little clichéd for Star Wars at this point). But what is it, then?
Maybe some kind of... transference machine? Does the dead Sith want to possess someone and get back out into the world? And lacking Ventress, does she look at Ezra and go fine, I guess you'll do (implying that it can see some darkness in Ezra starting, you’re not as developed but given time I can work with this, a lot of raw potential and not much control, it’ll be easy to take over). But Ezra backs away before it can get him, and then Vader shows up and kicks his ass, and Ahsoka comes in and is awesome... ooh, maybe at some point before Ezra and Kanan get the holocron out of the obelisk, Ahsoka comes in contact with it instead? Vader knocks her flying, she hits the obelisk and there’s a spark, a flash. She hits the floor and shakes her head kind of dazed and confused but it passes quickly and things go back to normal... for now. I’m not exactly sure if that would work since Ahsoka doesn’t really have that potential for darkness the same way? But maybe that just means that whatever Sithiness gets into her would have to stay more dormant than it would in Ventress or Ezra, the spirit doesn’t really get to possess Ahsoka but more ride along and wait for an opportunity to exert influence.
So... putting the holocron in the obelisk extracts the 'soul' part of the holocron leaving only a recording behind, basically 'loading' the obelisk to posess someone. It's risky on the dead Sith's part because if no one touches the obelisk her 'soul' will eventually fade as the power drains, which is why she's desperate enough to go for Ahsoka when it looks like everyone else is getting away.
(This route would require more follow-up/sequels with Ahsoka, it would become her story after this point, effectively. Although that could be good, diverge from Ezra’s story in the canon universe entirely and follow Ahsoka on her new path, maybe have her meet up with Ventress again. And Ahsoka has a little voice in her head now that she doesn’t know where is coming from, she’s not sure she isn’t going mad. Eventually would have to work it out and go back to Ezra and get the holocron back and deal with all of it somehow. I would be all over an antagonistic yet sort-of-BFFs partnership (in the non-romantic sense of the word) between Ahsoka and Ventress going forward after they team up and defeat the Sith spirit. Because hey, Ventress may not believe in the rebellion but she sure as hell believes in kicking Sidious’ ass, and having even an ex-Jedi around is actually better than being all alone in the dead of space.)
So back to the original story, Ezra still gets away with the holocron (if Ahsoka has de-fanged it, so to speak, it would explain why he or Kanan doesn’t get possessed when they grab it this time), which would still have a recording/imprint of the Sith, even if the ‘life force’ so to speak has fled. It can still talk to Ezra, influence him, as it does in season 3, it’s just the threat of possession that’s gone. If the possession aspect has moved to Ahsoka, then Ezra’s story wouldn’t have to change regarding season 3.
Kanan needs all the hugs; I’ve wanted to fic the aftermath of season 2 for him for a while, so maybe that could be worked in as the ending of the first fic. There would need to be first aid in the shuttle, Kanan would finally let go of the Force-fueled control over himself and the shock and pain would set in. Ezra would have to step up which would freak the hell out of him because Kanan is not allowed to be this helpless oh my god what do I do what do I do. And Ezra would still be more than a little shaken by his brush with the holocron spirit, too, whatever darkness was in it kind of resonated in him and that’s a very unsettling feeling. He's suddenly very aware of that seed of darkness in him. I think there would have to be some tough conversations between the two of them here. It’s a real bonding moment. I love my space family.
But mostly from whatever point Ventress gets taken out of the game this time around, things would go very much the same as they did in the actual episode so I don’t know how much more it would be appropriate to write on this one. Ezra and Kanan’s aftermath could be the ending of this fic, and then Ahsoka and Ventress would pick up the focus of the sequel.
Although if I can work in a bit where Ventress sees Vader before she leaves the planet... she’s skulking around, injured, waiting until she can steal the dead inquisitor’s ship and leave unnoticed. Sees Vader limping away from his encounter with Ahsoka, recognizes him somehow, and starts laughing long and hard in the way that a not-very-nice person laughs when seeing a cruel irony from the outside. Would they talk to each other? Would she chance that? He looked pretty hurt at the end of the episode, but he’s Vader, he’s never helpless. And she would be hurt as well. And there would be enough thwarted anger and frustration and hurt and general darkness roiling off him at this point that she may have just held her breath and hid until he was gone, then sealed herself in the ship cockpit and laughed until she couldn’t breathe. (In Clone Wars, she recognized Anakin and knew who he was even though she was facing away and he was wearing a hood, so this speaks well to her being able to sense people’s identity through the force.)
Question: what happens between Ahsoka and Vader between the time when Ezra is sealed off from them and the end of the episode? We go from “I’m not leaving you, not again” and Vader attacking, to Vader limping off alone looking like he lost and Ahsoka showing no obvious impaired movement or damage as she goes down some dark stairwell (having apparently left him after all, or maybe part of the temple collapsed between them and forced an end to the confrontation. OR does the holocron spirit have something to do with it? A moment of weakness in Ahsoka’s mental fortitude (overcome by grief/guilt over Anakin?) means that the Sith takes over briefly, and the next thing Ahsoka knows she’s alone and half the ceiling is collapsed and she has no idea where Vader went).
Question: is Darth Zannah canon or fan-created? I think she was Bane’s apprentice, so, canon? If so, the holocron could totally be hers. Maybe the temple is her tomb. We wouldn’t find out it's her right away, though, it would only be after Ahsoka has spent some time hearing a voice and thinking that she was going nuts and eventually realizing that there really is someone else in her head that Zannah would reveal her identity. What would be Zannah's motivation in coming back to ‘life’? Does she dislike the current scion of Bane? Would she actually support Ahsoka’s fight against Sidious? Possibly for some selfish reason, but even so. If they come to some kind of agreement then it could give Ahsoka greater power BUT also give Zannah greater control and more of a potential to take over completely. If that goes on too long, it could be very hard to force Zannah back into her holocron at the end.
...yeah, that's it. *bows*
