THE CHOSEN.
A DARK PATH.
Darvin Skywalker, Anakin's twin brother, he is left for dead as a baby and then ends up being raised by the Sith. However despite enduring a life of pain and cruelty, Darvin repeatedly refuses to join them. When he is 19 he escapes. Set during AOTC
CHAPTER EIGHT.
The great arena was packed with tier upon tier of yelling Geoniosian's.
The cart trundled to the center, where Obi-wan was chained to one of four upright posts that were three feet in diameter. The cart stopped and Padme and Anakin were taken down, dragged to posts, and chained to them. Anakin was in the center.
Padme pulled a wire from her clothing and placed it in her mouth.
Obi-wan looked at Anakin sternly, "I was beginning to wonder if you had gotten my message."
"I retransmitted it as you requested, Master." Anakin told him, for a moment he looked almost sheepish, "Then we decided to come and rescue you."
"Good job!" Obi-wan stared at Anakin and shook his head, "you were about as successful as Darvin."
Anakin sudenly blinked, realising that his brother wasn't with Obi-wan. "Where is Darvin, Master?" He had a bad feeling, that only intensified at Obi-wan's pained blanch, "Master?"
"Dooku caught him, when he tried to rescue me." Obi-wan's voice was barely above a whisper. "I couldn't do anything to help him," hadn't been able to stop the horrific beating that Davin had been dealt.
As Poggle ordered their executions to begin, Anakin stared at Obi-wan, his face white with horror.
x
Darvin gasped in pain as he crouched on the floor of the cell, his body still ached from the lightning, and his back felt like it was on fire, burning with an intense agony. He had been put in the holding cell on Dooku's ship, he would be taken back to Dromuun Kaas, back to the Sith, back to 'Lord Phobeus' who would delight in making him suffer for his humiliation after Darvin's escape.
Darvin froze as he felt tears prickle his eyes_
No.
Was he going to cry like some lost little boy? Was he going to fall in a blubbering mess at Dooku's feet and beg him not take him back?
Darvin shook his head, annoyed with himself as he took a deep breath.
He would not allow Dooku to control him, he would escape - he had done it once, he could - would - do it again. Taking a deep breath, Davin forced himself to his feet; all he had to do was escape, the Jedi Council had to have organised a rescue by now, he would wait for them to arrive and then he would help them rescue Obi-wan.
There were only three battle droids guarding him, Darvin looked at the door of his cell and cocked his head, then shrugged, there was no reason why the same trick wouldn't work twice. Taking a deep breath, he raised a hand and - as two of the droids paced in front of the cell - he pushed the door off its hinges. The two droids were instantly crushed, he reached for the blasters from the droids, caught them and before the last droid could start firing, he shot it twice - once with each blaster.
Darvin grinned, gasping as his back throbbed, he had done it again!
As he stared to leave, Darvin paused - this was Dooku's ship, his means of leaving Geonosis - Chuckling, Darvin walked slowly up to the front of the ship; aiming the blasters at the controls, he fired.
Dooku would not be using that ship to leave on, he would have to find some other way off the planet. Grinning, Darvin made his way slowly off the ship.
xxx
Master Windu ran to the center of the arena, where he fought back to-back with Obi-wan, as they swiped and mangled droids.
Among the tiers, other Jedi were slowly being driven back, they had killed many Geonosians and destroyed piles of droids, but the sheer numbers were beginning to take their toll; Individual Jedi were being cut down or blasted.
The remaining Jedi began retreating into the arena.
Anakin and Padme were back-to-back, fighting droids and flying Geonosians. Glancing at her briefly, Anakin grinned, "You call this diplomacy?"
"No," padme grinned back at him, "I call it aggressive negotiations."
Padme jumped on top of the Orray pulling the execution wagon, Anakin ran, jumped, and landed in the cart, deflecting laser blasts with his lightsaber. Padme began blasting battle droids as the two ride through the arena.
xx
He almost missed the figure staggering in the sand, only saw him when he started waving his arms at the gunships; once he had seen him, Master Yoda instantly recognised him.
"Down to him, take the ship." Yoda said looking at the pilot of his gunship.
Darvin stood shakily, watching as she gunship banked downward toward him. He staggered, as he leaped up into the ship - his vision narrowed, darkening at the edges. His back seared with white-hot waves of agony.
"Alright, are you?"
Looking at Master Yoda, Darvin swallowed and took a deep breath. "I'll be fine," he'd suffered worse beatings. "Obi-wan was caught," he closed his eyes and tried to breathe through the pain. "I tried to rescue him, but Dooku knew I was there."
He had managed to escape though, if the situation hadn't been so serious he would have laughed; he had escaped from Sith Lords, twice - on both occasions he had been badly beaten.
"Are you sure you're ok, Kid?" The clone closest to him, held him steady as he swayed on his feet.
Nodding, Darvin straightened and took a deep breath. "I'll live," Obi-wan wouldn't if they didn't reach him soon.
xxx
"Master Windu!" Dooku's voice rang over the top of the crowd, "You have fought gallantly. Worthy of recognition in the history archives of the Jedi Order." He paused briefly, "surrender now, and your lives will be spared."
Master Windu's response was instantaneous and unyeilding, "We will not be hostages for you to barter with, Dooku."
"Then, I'm sorry, old friend."
The droids raised their weapons, Anakin and Padme looked to each other as Dooku raised his hand to give the order
to fire.
Padme looked up suddenly, "Look!" Above, six gunships were descending fast through the open area in the arena ceiling, they landed in a cluster around the handful of Jedi, clone troopers spilled out and started firing at the droids.
There was a hellstorm of laserfire that bounced off the shields created by the Gunships. Yoda appeared at the door of one of the Gunships. "Around the
survivors, a perimeter create."
padme suddenly grinned as she headed to one of the gunships with Anakin, "Anakin, look." She pointed to Yoda's gunship, standing beside the ancient Jedi, firing at the droids was...
Darvin.
Anakin sagged with relief, he was ok.
xx
Obi-wan, Anakin and Padme were at the open sides of the Gunship, clones fired down at the droids below.
The Gunship slowed, circling over a droid gun-emplacement, blasting at it, but the Gunship was suddenly rocked by a near miss. It lurched violently.
"Look over there."
Anakin looked to where Obi-wan pointed, through the other side of the Gunship, they saw Geonosian Speeder race past, in the open cockpit was the unmistakable figure of Count Dooku."It's Dooku!" Anakin looked at the clone Captain, "Shoot him down!"
The clone Captain shook his head, "We're out of missiles, sir."
Anakin growled, "Follow him!"
x
As the gunship landed at the assembly point, Darvin frowned, for a brief moment he saw through Anakin's eyes - he saw Dooku, saw Anakin's frustration. Grinning he opened his borrowed comlink, "Anakin, let him go."
"What?!" Anakin's response was angry, "We can't let him escape!"
Master Yoda and master Windu looked just as shocked, rolling his eyes, Darvin sighed. "He's not going anywhere," he told Anakin. "I disabled his ship when I escaped."
He heard Obi-wan laugh, Darvin smiled. "He's walking into a trap this time, Master Obi-wan." He stepped off the gunship and staggered, his vision swam and he had the vague sensation of falling before everything went black.
Ok, just FYI, Dooku still escapes and Anakin still loses his arm - the next chapter will star up with Darvin waking on Coruscant, the Council will come to s decision about him and they will devise a plan to rescue Leonde and the other Sith 'Young-lings'.