Twilight
Once Anakin, Obi-Wan, the Clone Troopers, Dooku and Palpatine were safely inside the Twilight, they ejected Grevious's flagship into space. Chancellor Palpatine had secured himself, isolating himself from the Clone Troopers. Anakin turned to Count Dooku, "You will obey my commands until we reach Coruscent," he told him. "Fives, Echo, I want you to guard him at all times. Cody, I want you to keep an eye on the Chancellor, we wouldn't want the Count to decide to finish the job he started," Anakin replied. "Jesse, go with him," Anakin added as a second thought, in his General voice, as Ahsoka called it. Anakin turned to Ahsoka. "Snips, I'm very proud of you," he said.
"And I'm proud of you. Ventress, I can believe but for the Chancellor to taunt you that way, it worries me that the Chancellor wanted you to murder Dooku."
"Murder?" Anakin repeated, even though he had known it was wrong, he hadn't put a word to it. Murder, was that what the Chancellor and Ventress had urged him to do. He had felt the call but had resisted throughout his bond with Ahsoka. He could not allow Ahsoka to believe that he would kill a helpless man. Yes, the Count had the Force but Anakin had saw a beaten, broken, betrayed man and he had to wonder what had brought the Count to this place? Yes, the Sith Lord had taunted him, but the call to answer felt dimmer than it once had? Count Dooku had once been a respected Jedi Master and Qui-Gon's master at that. The look on Count Dooku's face when the Chancellor all but ordered his death. Something about that look bothered him. Anakin turned to his master. "Are you alright, Master?" he asked.
"Just a bump on the head, Anakin."
"Kix, please take a look at General Kenobi," Anakin stated.
"Yes, sir," Kix replied, gathering his supplies. Obi-Wan frowned, even as his eyes twinkled.
"I'm going to get you for this one," Obi-Wan told his former padawan.
"Master, Count Dooku threw you against the wall, at the least you have a mild concussion from what I can tell," Anakin stated, probing him with the Force. "I know how much you detest medbays, but please Master, I'm going to need you to help me find my wife. She's….on Tattooine," Anakin added, searching out her presence. She had better not be hurt, he thought, as fear and anger ran through him. He took a deep breath and released most of both into the Force, at least until he had his emotions under control.
"Tattoine, Master?" Ahsoka asked.
"Stop following me around you fool," Anakin heard the Chancellor say.
"We have orders, Your Excellency," he heard Cody say.
"I am the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, do your orders not come from me?" the Chancellor replied, as Anakin narrowed his eyes.
"These orders are for your own protection, your Excellency. I don't believe you grasp the seriousness of the situation," Jesse argued, respectfully.
"I don't take Orders from Clones…or Jedi, you take Orders from me," he snapped, sneering at them. Anakin strode forward.
"Jesse, Cody, give the Chancellor some air. Cody, I believe Obi-Wan would like to see you. Jesse and I can guard the Chancellor. Send Tup in here when you get a chance," he added. Anakin turned to the Chancellor. "Jesse and Cody were guarding you on my Orders, Your Excellency. There is still a Sith Lord in custody that recently tried to have you killed," Anakin said, bowing slightly.
"If you had destroyed him then there wouldn't be," he snapped, a little irritable. "Forgive me, my boy, but you could have ended this war. I'm tired of the fighting, I just want peace, my boy, can you understand that?"
Anakin nodded. "Perhaps you should see a therapist when you return; I would hate to think that you could crack upon the horrors of this war. I will do everything within my power to end the war. You have my word of honor, but I will not murder a defenseless man."
"Dooku is hardly defenseless, my boy."
"My order stands."
"I can make destroying him an Order."
"When have I ever followed Orders?" Anakin asked. "And Chancellor, my Clones are people too, they are just numbers, they are my men, I would fight for them and bleed for them."
"That may be required," Palpatine stated, and he could feel his prize slipping away. He had to hope that Barriss and Mace would have better luck in helping Anakin slip back into the darkness. Anakin bowed and took his leave.
"Ahsoka," Anakin called and she came to his side. When had he stopped referring to her as Snips? When he had lost her and she had returned because of his training. He had never been so proud of her. It felt almost like they were equals, and he could trust her to handle herself, he no longer felt an insane desire to protect her, she could handle herself. "Come with me," he replied. He was going to question Dooku. "Rex, inform General Kenobi that I'm going to interrogate the Count, and send Kix to look after the Count, I'm afraid negotiations with the Count got a little aggressive," Anakin replied as he and Ahsoka headed toward the Count.
"I don't doubt it, sir. Will do," Captain Rex saluted and went to find Kix and General Kenobi. Anakin and Ahsoka headed toward Fives, Echo, and Boil who were currently guarding the Count.
"Boil, Fives, Echo," Anakin addressed each of them. "I am here to interrogate the prisoner. Allow Kix in to bandage the prisoner," he added.
"Sir, yes, sir."
"Has he given you any trouble?" Anakin asked, holding a small med pack under his arm. "Fives, see what you can do about getting the Count some food. Our objective is not to starve him."
"Yes, sir," Fives added. Anakin knew that he was being overly cautious but as the Chancellor stated, he was a Sith Lord. Anakin took off his mechanical glove and handed it to Ahsoka who in turn handed it to Boil.
"Try not to lose this," she teased, as she followed her master into the room.
"Count Dooku, you remember my padawan, Ahsoka Tano."
"Yes, of course, I would shake your hand, but I appear to be missing mine," the Count stated, looking at Skywalker.
"What do you want?" he asked as Anakin took a seat, motioning for his Padawan to do the same. "You cannot mean to think that some Jedi trick will work on me."
"No, I am not a Jedi of the old Order. Relax, you aren't completely wrong about them," Anakin stated, before handing him the ice pack. "A gesture of good will, if you will," Anakin added, as the Count looked at the pack suspiciously and reluctantly accepted it. "The Jedi and the Sith have both fallen off the path, fallen far from the Will of the Force," Anakin continued. "Many years ago, the Jedi and the Sith were one," Anakin paused as he waited for it to sink in.
"You wish for me to train you in the ways of the Sith?" the Count asked.
"If I am the Chosen One, I hardly need it do I?" Anakin asked, fixing him with a patronizing gaze.
"I once thought that I, and I alone could destroy the Sith. That was many years ago," Count Dooku stated.
"Do you require representation or will you speak to me?" Anakin asked before he delved deeper into conversation with the Sith Lord. "Jedi, Sith, they are but titles between us," Anakin stated, standing. "You were once Master Qui-Gon's master. You taught him of the prophecy?"
"Yes, Qui-Gon was a maverick; he was almost obsessed with the Jedi prophecies. Especially the one of the Chosen One. He suffered greatly for his affinity toward the Living Force."
"Qui-Gon never spoke of you to me."
"You knew him for what a handful of days….a week, and you think you knew him? Ha!"
"He made quite an impression on me," Anakin admitted. "He saved me from slavery, I owe him my life," Anakin replied humbly.
"What is it you desire from me, Skywalker; you wish to hear that I once was a Jedi, that I believed in the Jedi Code? That I felt the call of the Sith, that perhaps, I once too, held the galaxy by the throat? That for every good dead I did, I brought equal harm upon the galaxy? What would it matter now? You already know all of this."
"Tell me about your master," Anakin heard from the doorway, to find Obi-Wan and Kix standing behind him.
"I wasn't lying on Genosis." Count Dooku stated. "To end this war, you must destroy him."
"You know his identity?" Ahsoka asked. "You must tell us."
"These discussions are too much for the ears of younglings. Send her away and I will tell you what I know," the Count replied while Kix bandaged his hand. Kix also noticed that General Skywalker was missing his glove.