They were carted out and paraded. They passed Obi-Wan who was already chained to the first pillar. The loud chanting of the Geonosians was a bit settling. Nothing ruins your day like people screaming for your blood.
Padme was chained first to the pillar. She yanked at her chains growling softly under her breath. It was an old-fashioned type metal cuff nothing technological. If it was, she could probably get it off she had some practice. Her head security taught her how. Unfortunately, she could not use it right now. However, she did have something up her sleeve. She just needed the fight moment.
Anakin was next. He was a bit distant. His eyes, usually an intense blue, were clouded over.
She looked at him in slight dismay. The confidence he had seem rattled. He had a brave front that masked his pain and apprehension.
Obi-Wan seem more at ease. He was a bit troubled by his padawan's behavior. He tried to be flippant, to alleviate the situation like the good old days.
"Anakin, how nice of you to join me." Anakin did not respond. Padme did instead.
"We came to rescue you." She calmly said to Obi-Wan.
"I can see that." He paused. "Anakin are you okay?" From their bond, he could feel a strong wall that blocked him from his padawan.
Padme answered again. "I think Dooku did something to him."
This time Anakin answered. He seemed a bit better now. "It is nothing master."
Obi-wan raised an eyebrow but did not answer. He did not have time. The Archduke very calmly and with great pomp announced something. It obviously excited the stands, letting him conclude that they were just sentenced to death.
He did not have to wait long for their supposed executioners. A Reek, Acklay, and Nexu rumbled out.
Anakin focused on the animals and tentatively touched the Force. He could feel that these animals were starved and enraged.
He was 'calm'. After his mind was basically shredded and he saw the possible corpses of those he loved blaming him for their death shaken his confidence. All his visions were coming full circle, he could feel impending doom arriving.
His anxiety was obviously affecting Obi-Wan. "Calm down, focus."
"Yes master." Anakin took a deep breath, steadying himself.
Padme meanwhile took the metal tool from her wrist and picked the lock. She then climbed on top of the pillar. As long as the animals cannot climb or jump to her height, she should be fine.
She hoped the Jedi would be able to subdue the beast or Master Windu's strike force to arrival.
Obi-Wan was the first to be attacked. The Acklay slashed at him. Obi-Wan dodged the strikes while still chained. Fortunately, the strikes broke the chains and gave him more breathing room.
Anakin was next. He was the obvious next target. Obi-Wan was busy and Padme was on top of a pillar. The Reek stampeded at him, horn pointed at the boy. Anakin leapt up, intent on getting on top of his pillar like Padme; for he remembered that the person with the higher ground has the advantage. He got to the top but then was yanked back down. The Reek entangled his chain around its horn and swung. The force snapped the chain, but also propelled Anakin towards the wall. Anakin flipped and landed on the wall feet first. His hands were still shackled but he still had a few feet of chains accompanying him.
The Reek charged at him. It may have intended to eat or gore him with its horn. It never got a chance. Anakin gently prodded with the Force. Using some force persuasion, he projected pleasant emotions. He calmed it down and got close enough to jump on the Reek's back. He kept a tight gripe on the beast's mind and quickly made reins. With that, he was able to control the Reek and direct it where he wanted it to go.
He forced the Reek to go back to the pillars. Padme was still on top of her pillar, safe but trapped. Obi-Wan was using some stick to attack the Acklay. His pillar was on the ground in pieces.
His first target was the Nexu. He encouraged the Reek to charge, the Nexu couldn't get out of the way fast enough and was gored.
"Padme, jump." Padme gave him an are-you-insane look before complying. She landed on the Reek's back, and clutched onto Anakin's robes to keep herself from falling. She had no reins to hold on.
Obi-Wan danced with the spear. He treated it like a big lightsaber with only a point. He could not cut the Acklay's head off or stab it. He suspected that the skin was too tough to penetrate with a primitive weapon. If he had his lightsaber, he would have made mincemeat of the Acklay. Instead, he opted to stab it into the Acklay's neck. For a second it would appear he was victorious, instead the Acklay took the spear out and snapped it in half.
Obi-Wan gulped. He started to run the other direction and was happy that Anakin was there unharmed with Padme riding a Reek. He hoped on.
Even though all three were unharmed, Anakin knew they were not out of the woods yet. A group of Droidekas rolled into the arena. The droids surrounded the group. They were stuck and at an impasse. Assuming that their deaths were not meant to be quick, the droids will not fire on them.
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Mace silently walked through the dark tunnel. As he walked, his mind was focused on the task before him. He had brought many Jedi with him to rescue Obi-Wan. He had suspected that Padme would go to help. He sincerely hoped she was not here. However, in the Force he could sense Anakin and Obi-Wan. That could only mean that Padme was with them as well. He had sensed the shift, the change in Anakin's force aura. He could not see it like he could see shatter points.
At that moment, he saw the shatter points clearly in his mind. If he were to kill Dooku now, it would destroy plans. With Dooku gone the others would cave in. Dooku was the one moving the treaty and making others comply. However, to Mace, Dooku was a dear friend. He could not understand why Dooku was doing this. When Dooku left, he and Mace were still on good terms. This judgment kept him from ending it; instead, Mace placed his lightsaber at Fett's throat. This personal attachment to Dooku invalidated his ability to make a decision.
Even now, barely a foot away, he could not feel anything from Dooku. He could not fell the darkness. What would drive a smart man like Dooku to do this?
"Master Windu," Dooku greeted calmly, "how pleasant of you to join us."
"This party's over." Mace declared, his eyes boring holes into Dooku.
The two hundred Jedi revealed themselves. They threw away their cloaks and lite their weopens. They were more than a match for the Geonosians. With the will of the Force, they would finish this. Mace was starting to think they brought too many.
"Brave, but, foolish, my old Jedi friend," Dooku sighed. "You're impossibly outnumbered."
"I don't think so." Mace scoffed. The Geonosians were no match for Jedi.
"We'll see," Dooku chuckled darkly and seconds later Mace understood why Dooku was so confident.
Tall blue battle droids, with bulky with arms raised at him, the blaster weapons were not seen but there location easy to identify. Hails of laser bolts were fired at Mace. He withdrew his weapon from Fett's neck and deflected the bolts.
Fett used this to fire a flamethrower at Mace. The flames hit his cloak as he flipped over the balcony railing. The fall was long but Mace was as Jedi Master. He landed on the sand, the Force cushioning his fall. Quickly he discarded his cloak and started deflecting bolts.
A horde of battle droids spilled into the field, laser bolts filled the air. A few Geonosians entered the fray using sonic weapons. The Jedi had a big fight ahead of them.
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Obi-Wan sat on the Reek's back. He was useless until someone gives him a lightsaber. Thankfully, a pair of Jedi tossed him and Anakin lightsabers. Quickly he used the blue blade to cut his padawan's restraints. Anakin in turn used his green one to cut Obi-Wan's.
Before he could gracefully get off the Reek, he was thrown off. Obi-Wan immediately got up and started deflecting blaster strikes. He did not see either his padawan or the Senator near him. There were too many Jedi; he could not accurately pinpoint Anakin and too much danger to go looking for them. He just kept himself alive. He ran into Mace and together they protected each other's back.
As he fought a feeling spread through him. He recognized as Jedi passing into the Force. Jedi were dying, overwhelmed by the droids. He and Mace shared a look. They either needed back up or to end this quickly. Either would be accepted, both would be preferable.
Mace whirled his blade, deflecting blaster strikes. He caught sight of the Reek charging at him. Mace sliced off the horn but the position it put him in, caused his lightsaber hilt to be knocked away. Fett was nearby and lunged for the hilt. Mace summoned back into his hand and jumped out of the way, as the Reek charged. Fett was unlucky and was trampled. His jet pack was ruined but he survived. When he got up, the Reek charged again. This time he shot the Reek killing it instantly.
Mace charged at Fett. Fett worked for the enemy and already killed a Jedi. Fett fired with his laser pistol but could not flee. He was apparently out of fluid for his flamethrower and resorted to just shooting. Mace blocked each shot and quickly decapitated Fett. The silver helmet bounced on the floor as the body collapsed.
He then sped off to help his fellow Jedi. Fett was one of the dangerous opponents in the area. There were others. Right now, their main opponent was numbers. There were too many droids and the Jedi were dropping like flies.
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Anakin ran after Padme. He gave her cover and made sure she did not die. He could not imagine the chaos that was occurring. The Force made a rippling feeling when a Jedi died. Each death affected him greatly. Each death reminded him of his most recent vision.
As he fought, a horrible feeling swept over him. Obi-Wan was in trouble. It was like in his vision, he had to prevent it.
"Stay here." He told Padme sternly. Another Jedi took his place and Anakin ran.
Obi-Wan fought the droids until the Acklay caught up with him. Apparently, it held a grudge for the hole in its neck. Obi-Wan quickly chopped off one leg. Then when it was unbalanced he sliced its head off.
He returned to destroying droids. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his padawan running toward him. He was distracted enough not to see a Geonosian hit him with a sonic weapon.
He felt a pressure on his chest and then pain in his back. His world faded into darkness.
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Anakin ran as fast as he could. He was a mere blur to other eyes. The droid sensors could not track where he was going. As he ran, he cut down Jedi and Geonosians alike.
He saw his master fight the Acklay and win. Then he saw his master sent flying into a wall. His master crashed into the wall. The lightsaber dropped from limp fingers.
Anakin felt the world freeze. His eyes opened and he screamed. It was unearthly and froze all combatants, even the droids stopped, so great was the yell. To Anakin he felt a bond snap, he felt an ache inside.
Anakin felt sorrow, he felt loss, he felt anger, and he felt helpless.
The thing about Anakin is that he fears much. As a Jedi, he has yet to learn how to control his fear. His master was not holding him back he was holding himself back.
He fears loss, abandonment. Had his mother died he would have been bitterer. Had he killed the tuskens and enjoyed it he would have started to fall. He had abandonment issues and was also a bit selfish. He was arrogant with his ablates and did not listen to his master. He held resentment and the weight of the universe on his shoulders.
It all changed when he had the near death experience. He got a glimpse of who he would have become. He did not remember the encounter but he got pieces of it in visions. This drove him to make himself better. He wanted to be the person Obi-Wan would be proud to boast about.
Anakin was a person who to others seems unafraid of anything.
Truth was, he too had fears.
He was afraid of being a failure, afraid of not being strong enough, afraid that he would disappoint everyone.
He had his flaws, his errors. His inability to admit it, kept them locked up, poisoning him from the inside. He was much easier to manipulate. His connection to the dark side made him easier to manipulate.
The thing about the human mind it tries to connect experiences. With the visions, his mind thought it had experienced this pain before. Truth was he did not, well not in this time but in others. The feeling of the bond snapping in turn snapped his mind. The place where his 'others' memories were held opened.
The images pounded into his brain. His visions were visions and yet they were memories of another time, of another place different and yet similar. It was not him but he had the potential to fail, the potential to fall. Darth Anakin fell, and paid dearly.
Anakin could not face it. The years of war pounded into his brain, the battles experience the memories. He knew everything his dark half did. His power level jumped, fluctuated and leapt to new heights.
Had he been thinking he would have realized that the feeling was phantom wasn't real. He would've felt another bond, attached to him in a perverse way. He would have heard the hoarse laughter through the bond.
You see, Anakin was lead into a trap. He fell for it, and fell far.
It was a simple matter for Sidious to influence and force Anakin to feel his master's death. After all he had a template, all he needed was a chance.
At that moment, it was not Padawan Anakin Skywalker. But Darth Anakin, angered at Dooku for the loss of his arm. Darth Anakin was a war hero with more battles under his belt than all the Jedi combined in the arena. He had the skills and power to back it up.
All should be grateful that Darth Anakin was still influenced by Anakin. He was so focused on Dooku he did not look at the other memories.
Anakin was still there, barely. All that was in his mind was his intense hatred at Dooku and his great underlining fear.
His eyes turned pitch black and stayed black. He sent out a Force Wave that decimated the droids and Jedi into the walls. He leapt up and lunged at Dooku blade blazing.
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Meh, battle time! Emotional time! Let us see what will happen next.
Hint: Fear leads to Anger, Anger leads to Hate, Hate leads to Suffering.