Notes:
Once again, if you recognise some parts, it is because some of the dialogues were taken from The Attack of the Clones movie.
Otherwise, like usual: not mine, no beta, no money made from this.
The sight that greeted Obi-Wan when he awoke was, if he had to describe it with one word, spinning. It took him a few turns of the room to realize his eyes were not playing a trick on him because of a concussion or another, but that he was, in fact, suspended in a rotating energy field and literally spinning as a result.
Unfortunately, his headache, blurry sight, and nausea – not helped by the spinning – told him he probably had a concussion too.
He was still trying to hold back waves of nausea when the door to his cell opened and the rotations mercifully stopped. He took a few breaths through his nose, swallowing thick and bitter saliva several times before he felt confident enough to face his captor without an embarrassing accident happening.
He blinked a few times until a familiar face came into focus. He couldn't say he was surprised, though he certainly hadn't thought his Grandmaster would have come to interrogate him himself, given his important position in the Separatist Confederation.
"Traitor," he greeted him, and was proud when his voice came out strong without a hint of weakness and no trace of slurring.
"Oh, no, my friend. This is a mistake, a terrible mistake. They have gone too far. This is madness."
The Count seemed to be sincere in his regrets, though Obi-Wan could be sure of nothing, his grasp on the Force had been elusive ever since he had woken up a few minutes prior and he was quite certain the other man was faking his concerns.
"I thought you were the leader here, Dooku."
"This had nothing to do with me, I assure you. I will petition immediately to have you set free," the Count's crisp diction rang melodiously in his ears, distracting him from the actual words. They were probably lies anyways. He squinted to make the two Counts merge into one again.
"I hope it doesn't take too long. I have work to do."
"May I ask why a Jedi Knight is all the way out here on Geonosis?"
"I've been tracking a Bounty Hunter named Jango Fett. Do you know him?" Obi-Wan answered airily with what he hoped could pass as a cocky smirk.
"There are no Bounty Hunters here that I am aware of. The Geonosians don't trust them."
"Who can blame them? But he is here, I can assure you."
Dooku nodded gravely. They were both playing their parts in this farce. Obi-Wan supposed he should be grateful his opponent was in a good enough mood to indulge in some superficial banter and hadn't resorted to torture yet.
"It is a great pity that our paths have never crossed before, Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of you. I wish he were still alive, I could use his help right now."
Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed. The time for warm up had come to an end, though why Dooku had decided to cut the chase so quickly, Obi-Wan's swimming mind couldn't fathom at the moment. He knew, however, that playing on their shared connection to Qui-Gon was a dirty move. The Count had poor taste, really.
"Qui-Gon Jinn would never join you."
The Jedi Order had been Qui-Gon's life. For all his criticism of it, Qui-Gon had loved the Order more than he had ever loved anything or anyone else. More than Tahl. Probably even more than the Chosen One prophecy should it have come down to it. He would have fought whomever threatened it until the bitter end, be it Dooku or anyone else. He would never have left it under any circumstances.
"Don't be so sure, my young Jedi. You forget that he was once my Apprentice, just as you were once his."
Yes and Obi-Wan clearly remembered how even years down the line, Qui-Gon still held Melida-Daan against him at times, how Qui-Gon would bring it up during some of their arguments, a fact Dooku clearly was unaware of because while he had known the man first, Obi-Wan had known him last.
"He knew all about the corruption in the Senate but he would never have gone along with it if he had learned the truth as I have."
That was right, Obi-Wan found himself nodding before stopping the movement short when he realised his head was moving. Qui-Gon had never approved of the Senate's corruption but this was hardly fresh news and had nothing in common with him leaving the Order. Qui-Gon had always fought hard within the Order for more independence from the Senate, he would have kept walking down that path.
"The truth?" The Count had minutely relaxed when Obi-Wan had seemingly agreed to his point, so Obi-Wan decided to humor his interlocutor in the hope of gathering more information.
"The truth. What if I told you the Republic was now under the control of the Dark Lord of the Sith?"
"No, that's not possible. The Jedi would be aware of it."
Obi-Wan was reeling and letting his mouth work without his input, even as he was trying to focus as hard as he could. The Count looked so intent, so earnest. Of all the times he had to be unable to focus properly, why did it have to be now? He shook his head in an attempt to force Dooku's silhouette back into full clarity but regretted it immediately when his brain seemed to hit the inside of his skull and ricochet several times. The resulting blinding pain made the room swim around him so much he gagged against the bile rising in his throat.
He thought Dooku was continuing but the sounds all around him were drowned by a deafening roar.
There was a too warm hand on his forehead, arms lowering him on blessedly cool ground, and then there was nothing but welcoming darkness.
.
When Obi-Wan opened his eyes again, the fog seemed to have dissipated from his head. A glance around the brightly lit room told him that while he was in a bed, and probably not even in a cell anymore, the bed was far too comfortable for that. The place was less likely to spin on itself too, which was something he could now appreciate to its full value.
As though summoned by his awakening, the door opened to let Dooku enter. Was he monitoring him in the Force? Oh the Force. Obi-Wan closed his eyes in blissful relief and let out a sigh of contentment when he felt It reach back to his prodding, wrapping him in Its ever welcoming embrace. It had only been for a few hours but he had missed this connection so much.
"My apologies, Grandpadawan, I was unaware your health had suffered during your captivity, else I would have ensured you had been seen to before our first encounter," the Count said while gracefully lowering himself in a chair at Obi-Wan's bedside.
He wasn't even chained to it, Obi-Wan noticed. The Count truly was trying to reach out to him. He didn't know what to make of this strange show of hospitality. It had to be a trap, didn't it? But why take so many chances? Healing him wouldn't benefit Dooku in any way when taking advantage of Obi-Wan's previous vulnerable state would have had more chance of yielding Dooku the information he was certainly seeking.
"Are you unafraid I will try to escape?"
"As I attempted to explain before, your capture was a terrible mistake. Had I known you were seeking a meeting with me, I would of course have obliged you as swiftly as I could."
Why was he serving him an excuse for his presence on a silver platter? The discovery of Obi-Wan's presence on Geonosis possessed all the markers of a diplomatic disaster, which Dooku should relish in exploiting. This situation made no sense. Or at least it made no sense under the assumption that Dooku was viewing Obi-Wan as an enemy.
"You have my thanks," Obi-Wan answered cautiously.
"Unfortunately, as much as I would like to let you gather your bearings and take this conversation to a more comfortable setting, I am afraid our time is running short."
Obi-Wan nodded. At least, he could think properly this time. He drew on the Force, using it to sharpen his mind even more, and attuned his presence to Dooku's to better ascertain the veracity of his upcoming words. He could have sworn he had imagined the approving glint in the Count's dark eyes if he hadn't felt it ripple ever so discreetly in the Force, barely a blur on the otherwise calm surface he projected.
"The Dark Side of the Force has clouded the Jedi's vision. You know as well as I do that a thousand years ago, our predecessors built the Temple on the remains of the Coruscanti Sith Temple. We were supposed to use this to monitor the Darkness. Unfortunately for us, It is too insidious and patient, and eventually, It proved stronger than us. After a few generations, we became complacent, and even Yoda fell prey to Its deception. The old Temple's taint clings to all of us now, it makes us angrier, more deceitful, it weakens our connection to the Light. Coruscant remains as it ever was, Sith dominion. So long as we keep looking straight into the Light, we shall be blinded by it and it will be impossible to truly see through the Dark's concealing fog that surrounds us all."
Obi-Wan listened to everything with baited breath. His first instinct was to deny everything. Except the Count believed in what he was saying: one would have to be a fool not to see the raw honesty and yearning to be understood the Count was exuding within the Force, and Obi-Wan was no fool.
There was not an ounce of untruth to his words and no-one, not even someone as skilled as Dooku was in the ways of the Force, could completely conceal the disturbances outright lies left in the Force. While it was possible to lie, if one adopted a mindset where the words could make sense, Obi-Wan couldn't imagine a point of view that didn't support Dooku's affirmations.
As horrifying as it was, Dooku was telling the truth, and his beliefs likely matched reality. Amongst other things, Obi-Wan had heard reports of Initiates being less even tempered than they used to be. Though at the time he had easily dismissed these allegations as unreliable nostalgia, he couldn't help but remember how he himself had worried upon seeing Anakin's bright Force presence become muddy as the years went on, though it was still light at its core, thank the Force. He wouldn't be able to tell now, it has been too long since Anakin had let him past his many layers of shields, but his overall presence was still Light and that was what mattered the most. But most of all, he had noticed his own connection to the Force always seemed to become stronger and clearer the furthest away from Coruscant he was.
He had never told anyone about this, had never dared to reach out to one of his fellow Jedi for fear of this deficiency of his being discovered. A quick check of his mental shields showed him they were unbreached. The Count hadn't broken into his mind, hadn't even approached it. Obi-Wan doubted he would have done this anyway, it would have destroyed all of Dooku's efforts in getting Obi-Wan to listen to him with an open mind. No, the only way the Count would have been able to know this would be if he had felt it himself firsthand.
Obi-Wan frowned. "Is that why you decided to Fall? To see through this fog?"
"My young friend," the Count leant forward to whisper conspiratorially, "who said anything about Falling?"
Now this was the first untruth Dooku had told Obi-Wan. The corruption of Darkness clung to him the way it had Maul: Dooku had Fallen, there was no doubt of it. Yet, this untruth impossibly didn't feel like one. Before Obi-Wan could open his mouth to call him out on his statement, Dooku opened himself for Obi-Wan to investigate his Force presence.
What he found had him stare at the Count in open mouthed wonder mixed with horror. There, buried deep beneath layers upon layers of ever blackening darkness, there was a core of pure light.
"The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows," the Count whispered, a wicked smile stretching his lips while he slowly and methodically pulled his shields back in place. Obi-Wan caught a glimpse of light pulsing at regular intervals and generating waves of impenetrable darkness in its wake before he was gently pushed back into his own mind.
Dooku had found a way to Fall without truly Falling. Obi-Wan fought to scrape his jaw off of the floor but he still had troubles wrapping his mind around what he had just witnessed. This was supposed to be impossible. Either you Fell or you did not. There was no middle ground… Though hadn't he always heard that only the Sith dealt in absolutes?
Obi-Wan head was spinning. If what Dooku had managed was replicable, it changed everything, went against all he had d been taught since infancy.
"The Council felt I was taking things too far when they didn't even know the true extent of my experiments. I had no other choice. Though it is safer, the taint still clings to the outer edges of one's presence and it required strict discipline at all times to keep it under control. I couldn't stay, especially in light of my discoveries."
The Count moved even closer to Obi-Wan, voice dropping down an octave.
"You must believe me Obi-Wan, none of us could see hundreds of senators falling under the influence of the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious. But he is here, on Coruscant, manipulating the Darkness to conceal himself and enhance his powers."
Dooku's eyes shone with a fervent, desperate light Obi-Wan had never thought could exist in such a proud and collected man. This, more than anything, made Obi-Wan willing to believe him. Jard Dooku wasn't a man who knelt or begged to be believed, not under any circumstance. He would fight the pressure until he broke under it in the most destructive fashion before he ever allowed himself to bow or even bend a little. It was a trait Obi-Wan knew well: Dooku had transmitted to Qui-Gon, who in turn had passed it on to Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan felt cold sweat trickle down his back, making his tunic stick to it in an uncomfortable manner. It couldn't be true. It shouldn't be true. Yet, it seemed to be.
Dooku placed a hand on Obi-Wan's forearm, but he was squeezing too tight for it to be anything but painful for the both of them.
"The Viceroy of the Trade Federation was once in league with this Darth Sidious but he was betrayed ten years ago by the Dark Lord. He came to me for help. He told me everything. You must join me, Obi-Wan, and together we will destroy the Sith!"
Obi-Wan frowned. Before he left, Dooku had been a Sentinel, and an exceptionally good one at that. He had been the one tasked with investigating the origins of the Sith who had killed Qui-Gon. He had stepped down from his place as High Councilor and left the Order altogether shortly after having reported to the Council that he had made headway in said investigation. Could he be working undercover? No, if he were, he would rely on the support of the Order, he wouldn't be trying to convince Obi-Wan of the soundness of his actions.
"There is something more isn't it?"
Though not a hint of emotions crossed Dooku's face, there was a shudder in the Force, cold and clammy.
"I have met him, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan knew this echo in the Force well, he had both emitted it and felt it in others before. Sheer terror. Obi-Wan knew from the little Qui-Gon had told him of his old Master that Dooku was ambitious, he was greedy, and he revelled in luxury and power, but none of these aspirations transpired at the moment. Those traits would probably always stay with the man, but this was not what bound him to this Sith Lord. Because Obi-Wan was certain of it now, Dooku had indeed met him. And he had been terribly outmatched, so much he had been bound into servitude to this person.
Obi-Wan felt cold seep into his bones. Dooku was the greatest Master of Makashi the Order had seen since the Sith Wars. If he, who practised this form uniquely suited to lightsaber combat and whose prowesses in the Force were widely recognized within the Order, had been so badly outclassed he had been coerced into doing the Sith's biding, how bad were the odds of defeating this Sith Lord? Yet, Dooku was still fighting: though his methods were debatable, he had managed to deceive said Sith and the entire galaxy with him into believing he had Fallen. There was still hope.
Obi-Wan did not know if the Count had chosen to reveal his true allegiance to him because he had been Qui-Gon's Apprentice, or if he simply had been the first Jedi willing to listen to him, but he would not betray that trust.
"I know this is a lot to take in Obi-Wan, but you must believe me. I thought I could take him down on my own but I have realized I cannot. I need your help."
Obi-Wan frowned. He let his eyes unfocus until he couldn't make out the Count's patiently waiting silhouette and immersed himself into a light meditation. He let his emotions flow through him until he could rise above them to examine things in the most objective way he could.
Dooku had said the Sith Lord controlled hundreds of politicians. They were someone who had known Naboo enough to mastermind its invasion. They knew the planet intimately enough they had been able to train he who must have been his Apprentice to fight in the Palace: Obi-Wan had viewed the security footage that had recorded the fight enough times to realize how lucky he had been to defeat the Sith, when in hindsight it was clear the Zabrak had strung he and Qui-Gon along all fight long, and had chosen to lead them into the power generator instead of being cornered into it as Obi-Wan, and likely Qui-Gon as well, had believed at the time.
All the blood drained from Obi-Wan's face. This opportunity could have allowed one person to derive a significant boost in power from this invasion. The realization threw him out of his meditative trance more harshly than he had braced himself for and he vacillated.
"Yesterday, you said the Republic was now under the control of a Sith Lord," Obi-Wan quoted, fighting to find any explanation that could contradict the words that were leaving his mouth.
Deep down, he was hoping for Dooku to refute this, to lie, to prove himself untrustworthy. But there was no mistaking the bone deep relief evident in the Count's sagging shoulders or how his hand finally loosened from the death grip it had on Obi-Wan's forearm.
"He has been planning this for decades, he has plans for every contingency, probably more than the few I have been able to learn of. He is so powerful Obi-Wan! And he is building an Empire."
"An Empire?"
"Yes. My position is only temporary, I am disposable to him. He wants the Chosen One by his side to enforce his orders in his upcoming dictatorship. He believes that with him as his servant, he will be able to destroy the Light and reign supreme over the galaxy for however long he has left to live."
"Anakin is not the Chosen One. The Chosen One story is just that, a story," Obi-Wan hissed through clenched teeth. How many times would he have to repeat that? People needed to stop viewing Anakin as some sort of hero of old, a lone savior absolving them all of personal responsibility for their actions and inactions.
Obi-Wan blinked. Oh. Of course. He should have seen this coming. It was the Council meeting with Qui-Gon all over again. Dooku truly bought in this prophecy and wanted Anakin, not him. He made to shrug the Count's hand off but the older man reaffirmed his grip.
"I should hope so."
Obi-Wan's mind went to a stuttering halt. "You… hope so?"
"Yes. Have you ever truly reflected on the meaning of this prophecy?"
"He will destroy the Sith and restore the balance between Light and Dark."
"And how would he do that, my young friend? By destroying the Sith? It would unbalance the Force in favor of the Light. By annihilating the Jedi, as Sidious hopes? Now, this would mean the Dark would unbalance the Force."
"So the only solution is the destruction of both," Obi-Wan finished with a white voice.
"I have investigated him, you know? Your Padawan. It was one of my most thorough searches if I might say so myself. His mother was in Gardula the Hutt's service when she became pregnant. You know how the Hutts are, they can often lend their properties to help secure deals. Fortunately for us, she was in Gardula's custody for a rather short amount of time, during which the Hutt only dealt with nine customers able to impregnate a human female."
Obi-Wan grimaced at the implications he had never wanted to consider, but Dooku pushed forward, either unawares or unwilling to soften his discourse in the face of Obi-Wan's discomfort.
"I have successfully managed to gather DNA samples from of all but three of these men and I have obtained recently a sample from the progeny of another man. I would like you to get me some DNA from your Apprentice. I would have gotten my hands on some, but I wasn't able to access the Temple's medical database since I left with, I must admit, too much hurry and not enough preparations. I will keep on tracking down the last two in the meantime."
"Why?" Obi-Wan asked, torn between horror at the Count's implications and morbid curiosity. "How could this be of any interest to you?"
"Because I want to know if we stand a chance!" the Count bellowed.
He stood up and paced along the walls of the small room, his breathing erratic and his strides short and rapid, a drastic counterpoint to his usually smooth and regal strides.
"If the prophecy is real, if he is the Chosen One, the Destroyer of Worlds, then we are all dead. So why fight? Why drag on the inevitable? Everything is ready, Sidious's power is secure, the war will happen, the Jedi are going to die, all of them. None of us trained Force users will survive your Padawan's trail of destruction because he shall Fall. You and I are both aware your Apprentice has come to value the Chancellor's advices more than yours of late."
Obi-Wan wanted to disagree, but he could only swallow back a bitter grimace lest he be called a liar. Anakin wouldn't Fall though. He wouldn't. It was impossible. He was a better man than both of them and if there was one thing his encounter with Maul when he was nine had taught him, it was to stay far away from the Dark Side of the Force. Obi-Wan couldn't count the amount of nightmares about Maul he had pulled Anakin out of at the beginning of his Padawanship.
"But if he is not the Chosen One," Dooku stopped abruptly his frenetic pacing and turned on his heel to look Obi-Wan dead in the eyes. "If he is not, then we still have hope. If he is not, we can fight and perhaps make a difference. But if the Force wants us dead, how could we ever survive?"
Obi-Wan was at a loss for words. Dooku was unhinged. There was no other explanation. How else could he explain the absurdities spewing out of his mouth? The Chosen One prophecy had never been one of doom but of a new Golden Age of the Force.
From a certain point of view.
The Count's commlink beeped before Obi-Wan could find an answer.
While he left the room to pick up the communication, Obi-Wan tried to force everything to make sense. Some of it did. But prophecies were fickle things, vague, subject to many interpretations. And more importantly, if his tutelage under Qui-Gon and his experience of the Unifying Force had ever taught him anything, it was that the future was ever changing.
The Force observed and advised, but It always let every being exercise their free will. This had been a point of contention he'd had with Qui-Gon. This was also the reason why Obi-Wan had never put much stock in the Chosen One prophecy, no matter how appealing it had been of late, especially with Anakin's unheard of Midi-chorian count… For humans, a voice suspiciously similar to the Count's whispered in his mind. His count was off the chart for a human, so high it nearly put his health at risk, but for several other species, Anakin's Midi-count would rank on the low part of the average.
Dooku came back before Obi-Wan could finish putting his thoughts back in order.
"As much as I would enjoy continuing this conversation, I am afraid a friend of yours has just requested the authorization to land on the planet, probably in the hopes of negotiating your release. Should she live up to her reputation, I have a feeling we shall all find the result of this particular discussion to our liking."
He placed a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder and squeezed it briefly.
"I do not think we will have more time to speak openly for quite some time, so should a particular DNA sample find its way into my possession, I will take this as an agreement on your part to my proposal of partnership. May the Force be with you Grandpadawan, whichever the shade."
End notes:
Thank you for sticking around for a second chapter :D
If you have a moment, I would love to know your thoughts about this
