Hey guys! Thank you very much for the reviews and I'm glad you like the fic so far. :) Your feedback keeps me going! Grievous is my favorite Star Wars character and I'm absolutely fascinated by him and I have lots of fun whenever I write about him. Because of that I try to keep him in character as best as I can. But I slip up at times with some elements... So please, keep me on my toes if you see some OOC-ness or whatever else that makes the scene crappy. Anyway, here's the new chapter, please give feedback and enjoy! :D

Note: I did mention one of Grievous' children and this is by no means a canon description. Since we never found out their names I decided to expand a bit on his family.

Innocence is Blind

Chapter 2 Sweet Dreams

It was well into the evening now. Even the sleepless droid army had quieted down for the night. The General's flagship, The Invisible Hand, was parked onto an airstrip a few miles outside of the ruined city. Surrounding the Trade Federation cruiser, there were numerous mechanical soldiers patrolling the area around the ship. Their patrol seemed to be barely noticeable as their metallic feet treaded across the pavement. AAT tanks provided more deadly firepower than the droids and bore considerable intimidation factor for any possible spies or intruders. The potent war machines were stationed at the rim of the CIS encampment.

Within the General's Quarters, Grievous sat in his chair with his eyes shut. He valued the night so much more than the day just because most of the time, it brought the promises of undisturbed rest. The droids were mainly tasked with guard duty at this time and they always left him alone. As much as he liked being an avatar of death and destruction in the eyes of the Republic, Grievous did enjoy his daily dose of peace and silence.

As he sat in his seat, his mind raced. It was normal for him since reminiscing about the past was the closest thing to sleeping and dreaming for the General since he couldn't do those functions anymore. And just like dreams, some of the memories he experienced were happy and pleasant. But also like nightmares, some were horrific and borderline painful. A lot of them were also so vivid and realistic Grievous thought he was actually reliving the moment.

His reflections of the past were the closest things he had to restorative meditation. At times the good memories he recalled on made him feel refreshed and his zeal for his vendetta against the Republic was rejuvenated with a new bloodlust. Sometimes if the memories were especially unpleasant, he was in a particularly worse mood than usual. And oftentimes, the droids he commanded could just tell if this was the case by the intensity of his glares or how loudly he growled.

Yet on this evening, his meditations were being rudely invaded by the visage of a complete stranger. Since he had abandoned her to the ruins of her home to live alongside her parents' corpses, all Grievous could think about was the little girl. In all honesty, he had never seen a living civilian child confronting him so boldly yet frightfully. When he would traverse through cities he demolished, all the young ones he saw were dead. The situation that occurred just two hours earlier was completely unexpected and the cyborg honestly didn't expect to see something like this anytime soon.

Grievous' eyes opened, realizing he wasn't going to have a restful evening. Instead of thinking about past triumphs, joys, heartbreaks and failures, he was going to be thinking about the newly christened urchin. His clawed hands were folded together and he lazily eyed the capital city that lay in ruins now. Amongst that sea of rubble and death, she was languishing in hopelessness and fear. He shook his head, chiding himself for allowing the little incident to gnaw on his conscious.

"It is war," he thought. "She is the citizen of an enemy planet that belongs to me now. If she is anything now, she is merely a slave. Why should I care about her? And why does my mind keep wandering back to her?"

Her face was still as fresh as ever within his mind's eye. Auburn hair, ocean blue eyes, pale skin… True, she was a precious and naive little girl. And he was responsible for the hell she now lived in. Now he remembered he never did find out her name.

"She will be dead by sunrise. When I initiate another sweep of the city tomorrow, I will find her in a sleep from which she will never awake."

Then for some reason, Grievous ceased to think about the Human girl. Immediately something much more pleasant came to his mind. He unfolded his hands and leaned back into his seat. His eyes shut when he saw he was going to maybe have some rest after all.

Instead, she was replaced by the memories he had of his twenty ninth child and youngest daughter, Kalla Sheelal. The last time he saw her which was nearly three years ago, she was only two. And that was when he was submerged in the bacta tank, constantly lapping into consciousness and unconsciousness. Kalla's face was pressed up against the glass with her tiny hands resting on the fragile barrier separating her from her battered father. Just like the rest of the other family members present in his dire time, her eyes were overtly moistened and mournful.

"Little Kalla…"

If he had the other half of his skull, Grievous would've been smiling beneath his mask. Kalla had light brown hair and the usual golden eyes a Kaleesh possessed. Her disposition was optimistic, affectionate, curious and at times too persistent. And like the other twenty nine children, he had loved her dearly.

Many times, he did wish to stop at Kalee for a day or two just to check in on his large family. But at simultaneously, Grievous saw it was impossible to have a happy reunion because he was much too occupied with his role as the supreme general of the droid armies. Only after the war ended would he feel he'd able to see them again. And that was a painful revelation he had discovered when he was first given his prestigious title by Dooku.

Right now, Kalla was about five years old. Her father could only imagine what she looked like now and what milestones he had missed. He wondered if she would even remember what he looked liked or know who he was when he'd finally come home. For now, Grievous could only hope that all was well back on Kalee. He wasn't going to rush the war just to go home: his vengeance needed to be fulfilled. And he vowed to himself he would not return until he had eliminated every single Jedi and disestablished the corroded and corrupt foundations of the Old Republic. It was a personal quest to protect home, honorable memories, end an unscrupulous regime and put some of the restlessness in his soul to rest. Yet Grievous saw that on that particular day at the edge of the Jenuwaa Sea years ago, his sadness would never completely dissipate.

Besides, Dooku and Sidious would sense weakness in him if he had returned home for even a miniscule day. He had been chewed out before by their disapprovals but he wanted to keep his loved ones out of it. Not only that, Grievous believed he might even lash out at them for demeaning the value of his family in favor of the war. Even though he didn't fear Dooku, he was wary of the head Sith's power and he didn't want to be on the end of that crimson sword.

"Not now. Later, but not now. Be strong, Kalla. I will see you all again soon enough."

His eyes reopened and he was met by the city. Again, he was reminded of the blue eyed child. He wasn't so much annoyed amazingly and he saw he wasn't going to have a serene night.

"General Grievous."

Grievous was completely oblivious to the presence of the battle droid. He also found it strange he couldn't find any anger within him when the droning voice reached his audio receptors. Instead, he rose up from his seat and faced the droid. The half droid took a few steps closer.

"Yes?" he said, genuinely intrigued by the meaning of this visit.

"Apologies for the intrusion but you…" The B1 paused. "Your attention is required immediately, sir."

"Well, how dire is this situation?"

"It's not too serious but it is strange at best."

Grievous was puzzled. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his mind of the fog it was shrouded in when he was thinking seconds earlier.

"Alright, what is it?"

The droid cocked its head to the side.

"Bring in the prisoner," it ordered three other droids who were standing outside the chamber. "We had caught someone sneaking around our borders, General."

A prisoner? The cyborg would've wrinkled his nose if he could. Immediately, he suspected it was a clone who had evaded his detection and had foolishly stumbled upon the CIS encampment. He straightened himself up to his full height and placed his hands behind his back.

But then his eyes widened in shock as he saw the prisoner being escorted in by the droids. He simply couldn't believe it.

The prisoner's smile was weak but it seemed a little content. She was wringing her hands.

"Hi, Mr. Grievous!" the little girl said innocently. "Do you remember me?"