When Anakin was a freshly made Padawan, just a few months after Naboo, he and Obi-Wan had gone on one of their first missions. For one reason or another, it brought them to a particular system with no name but didn't need one to profoundly stay with Anakin for the rest of his life. It was a dead system. It was so impossibly old its very star burned itself out and became a frigid dwarf so cold it hovered a minuscule fraction of a degree above absolute zero.
The star died. Stars could die, the same as people or animals. It didn't matter what you were, where you came from, or how powerful you were, time would eventually wear you down and you'd die. One of the most terrifying things Anakin ever learned. Obi-Wan didn't make it any better, quite honestly telling it for what it was, mixing it again with some Jedi philosophy Anakin would grow to quickly tire of until quite recently. It may have been one of the first times Anakin resented his Master too.
The image of the cold, dead star stuck with him ever since this mission, though he never told this to anyone. Not even Palpatine. This realization of the fragility of everything in the universe sowed fear into Anakin's heart. Fear that only intensified as the years went by. Every time he went into battle, or if there was a chance someone he cared about could die, the fear would creep up on him and make fun of him, always saying that everything eventually dies.
Part of Anakin's recklessness was in response to this, to shout back at the voice and prove it wrong by saving as many as he could but it never disappeared. With the war, this fear became a more constant companion and stoked by his own stupidity, ego, and more than a little manipulation from Palpatine. It might've consumed him had Obi-Wan not opened up and by extension, made Anakin do the same. Since that conversation, the fear of cold death ebbed away and seemed to vanish entirely.
As he stared out through the main viewport of the ship taking them to Coruscant, sitting in one of the back seats along with Master Yoda, Anakin was intimately reminded of watching the dead star all over again. The capital of the Republic, no, of the Empire, was like an iceberg in the middle of an ocean. The closer their ship got to it, the worse the chill became. The sensation of frosty prickling so intense it actually burned at Anakin's Force enhanced perceptions every time he tried to reach closer to the surface. The smog from before was nothing next to what was present then.
Oh, there were lights on Coruscant, countless signs showing that life was very much present on the surface. Life more or less unchanged despite the hectic events of the past few weeks. It didn't make what he felt through the Force any better, quite the opposite actually. The paradoxical life outside and the death colder than the void of space only made it more unnerving.
It was only thanks to two things that Anakin was able to keep himself more or less steady, despite his growing discomfort. The connection between him and his family back on Gormo, a beacon against the Dark Side, and the presence of Master Yoda next to him. Even if the Grand Master himself was troubled by what he sensed too.
His wrinkly face was drawn into a look of intense concentration and just a hint of sadness. Anakin wished he could say he didn't know what his Grand Master felt but that would be a lie. The two of them connected profoundly through the Force during the issue of Order 66, and what Master Yoda felt then must've been just as severe as returning to his home for the past millennia turned against him and the rest of the Jedi.
He must've sensed Anakin observing him through the Force, turning in his direction and offering a calming smile. "Worry not, young one. In great danger, we walk to, but alone we are not. We have each other, and our ally is the greatest we could ask for."
"I know Master, I'm just... Anxious."
"Understandable, Palpatine was a friend to you, a mentor. Fighting one perceived as such, an easy task, it never is."
"Even when they were never really your friend...?"
"Even then. Real it was for you and adds to the already great burden you bear."
"I won't let it get in the way, Master," Anakin promised him with as much certainty as he could. "Palpa- Sidious won't use the past against me. I won't let him."
"Know this already, I do," Master Yoda smiled wider. "Much faith in you I have, always."
Some time ago, he wouldn't have believed that but some time ago, Anakin was a complete fool. With his chest feeling lighter than it had moments ago, he took a calming breath and looked back to Coruscant. Their pilot, a member of Kota's militia and one of the General's best fliers said they'd reach the surface within moments. Thanks to the numerous hidden hyperspace pathways, they were able to circumnavigate past and around security checkpoints and other assorted defenses that would've left them vulnerable to discovery and then attack.
The plan was simple, use some places around Coruscant that were known only to the Jedi to park their ship, then they'd infiltrate the Senate dome. Apparently, it had its fair share of secret pathways as well. Means of circumnavigating past enemy defenses before striking at their head. Once this was done, the same people transporting them to Coruscant would fly in with an escape craft and get them out of there before the inevitable chaos of Sidious' assassination spread like wildfire.
During the final approach into Coruscant's upper atmosphere, the chill of the Dark Side swept over Anakin so quickly he instinctively shivered. Master Yoda took it far more stoically but even his tiny grey hands clenched hard enough for his cane to creak. This wasn't the worst sensation, it was the fact Padmé and the children felt... Cut off? No, the connection between them was dimmed. No doubt Sidious didn't want it to interfere again. A momentary panic swept over him before Anakin remembered to lean on Master Yoda, the two drawing strength from one another against the dark power now all around them.
They continued to do this even as the ship landed and they flew through the night sky of Coruscant toward the Dome and the epicenter of the Dark Side. Paradoxically, the spot where Sidious was most assuredly at pulsated with a different feeling altogether. A type of cold so intense and simmering it almost seemed to burn inside the maelstrom of the Dark Side. This paradoxical feeling intensified during their long trek through pipe ways, empty corridors, and rooms.
He was exactly where they expected him to be: the Chamber Holding Office, a private sanctum built precisely for the Chancellor, and his closest aides underneath the Grand Convocation Chamber. The place where Anakin was sure Sidious got a good laugh at the expense of him, the Jedi, the ruling body, and everyone else during his long sorted scheme.
Sharing glances, Master Yoda cast his cane aside while Anakin removed his larger robes. Both of them took their lightsabers out but did not ignite them just yet, walking into the CHO with great care, feeling out their surroundings for signs of traps. Sidious sat at a desk at the far side, arms rested against a chair, Sith cloak covering most of his body, even his eyes. But not the lower part of his face which was twisted into an approximation of a friendly smile.
"Master Yoda! Anakin!" Sidious shouted with anticipation, showing them his palms. "Welcome, welcome! This is a most delightful surprise! Let me be the first to wish you Happy Empire Day!"
"Not so happy will you be for long."
"Your reign ends tonight."
Sidious chuckled, planting his hands back on the arms of the chair. "Oh, I think not my Jedi friends. The time in which you may have stopped me has already past. Your precious Republic is already but a sour memory."
"Perhaps," Master Yoda admitted. "Your victory, our failure is, and a great one. However, while a single Jedi remains, never will it be absolute."
"I am quite aware of this," Sidious' voice dropped imperceptibly. Then his eyes, still shadowed by the cloak must've looked at Anakin then, the shiver that ran down his spine couldn't come for anything else. "And I shall correct it in due time, starting with the two of you."
"You won't kill another Jedi," Anakin said in a mostly steady voice, keeping it together to the best of his abilities. "That I can promise you."
"Such talk and from you of all people," The Sith Lord shook his head and almost gave Anakin another, this time pitying look from under the cloak. "I had such high hopes for you, my boy. To see you stifled under the Jedi, why, I can't imagine a greater waste of one's potential."
"I'm not your boy and the days of my listening to your lies are over. Now, get up and fight, even you don't deserve to die without the chance to defend yourself."
"Really? Then perhaps I shall simply remain sitting here."
Anakin stopped and blinked a few times before Sidious burst out laughing, a deranged cackle intensified by the complete absence of any other sounds in the vacant Senate Dome.
"Ah, you should have seen the look on your face, Anakin. But fear not, I will not trouble your feeble Jedi minds by choosing inaction. After all..." The Sith Lord smiled wider, showing rows of teeth while from under the shadow of his cloak, blazed two yellow eyes. Laboriously, he drew himself to full height and produced two lightsabers from inside both sleeves. "You cannot imagine how long I've waited for this."
With distorted snap hisses, his red lightsabers ignited. They produced the same effect Sidious' lamps did back in the Chancellor's office, burning so brightly one's eyes strained from looking at them. They even seemed to intensify the shadows around the Sith Lord. Anakin and Master Yoda answered in kind, their own blades standing in the ready positions of Djem So and Ataru.
In mere moments, the air around the office became impossibly thin it was hard to breathe. A pressure appeared which was closer to a gravitational generator going haywire inside a star destroyer over any natural phenomenon. Anakin could almost swear the room and ground shivered ever so slightly, making it appear as though everything but the three of them was vibrating in place.
None of them said anything for what felt like an eternity. Sidious elated and eager to fight. Master Yoda, resolved, and stoic. Anakin, unnerved but determined to see it all to the end. Once they moved, it was like three blurs of red, green, and blue, and with their clash, came the first of many titanic quakes in the Force to come.
Tyrannus was enjoying himself for a great many reasons. The first was the empowerment of the Dark Side, fueled and nurtured by thousands of years of perpetual mutilation of Mustafar. All of the decades of wear and tear brought by his Jedi and then Sith training were rendered non-existent. He was a young man again, strong, fierce but never reckless. He was a man in control of the universe around him, not subservient to it.
This contributed to the second reason he took pleasure with his current situation, the battle itself. Never in all his years of life did Tyrannus perform as he did there, within the hidden almost safe haven of the Separatist leadership. Each strike was quick, absolute in its dedication to defeat his adversary. Each sidestep was graceful. Each feint calculated and expertly woven into the past two categories. The dance of Makashi was well underway. Yet Tyrannus could not take credit for it, a fighting style only came to its zenith when used against a worthy adversary.
Such as Kenobi was at that moment.
The Jedi Master Yoda thought he could be was no longer a thought, he was fully realized then and there. No matter what the Sith Lord sent his way, thrust, slash, feint, Kenobi met it with expertise the rest of the Order could only dream of. His Soresu was absolute, unwavering but more importantly and most commendably, elegant. Nothing went to waste, if Obi-Wan could successfully stave off death for another fraction of a moment, he did so to spectacular effect. There was an ever-present grace and yet simplicity to every action he partook, Tyrannus on several occasions did not even bother to attempt a death blow. He only wished to see what Kenobi would do there and then, by himself, and without Skywalker.
Why, if one could observe their battle from the sidelines, one might assume they'd practiced with one another countless times.
"Marvelous, simply marvelous."
"I'm glad I'm not disappointing you."
"Disappointing? Nonsense," Dooku smiled as the two circled one another. "I've not enjoyed a duel like this in... A very long time. So many in the Order have forgotten the worth of precision, of finesse and forsook both for mad scrambles of acrobatic absurdity!"
"Guilty as charged," Kenobi actually chuckled. "And credit to where it is due, I have you to thank for my present skills."
Dooku's walk slowed down imperceptibly. "Indeed?"
"Indeed. After our duel at Geonosis, I came to realize how inadequate my dueling skills were. If I was to survive against whatever the Clone Wars would throw at me, I would have to do much better. In fact, much of the way I use Soresu came from my observations of your own dueling skills, Master."
"A pity Qui-Gon never did the same."
"Perhaps not, after all, I am also who and what I am today thanks to him. If it were not so, perhaps I would be a lesser man."
"And perhaps you would be greater."
"Perhaps, but what is, is. One cannot change the past, merely accept it, learn, and strive to do better next time."
"Now, now, don't spoil this for me with Jedi foolishness, Obi-Wan. Not when I'm enjoying myself so!"
Tyrannus silenced him with a swift, one-handed thrust. Kenobi did not block it, instead, he moved just enough to avoid it and attacked for the first time since they'd begun. With a speed the Sith Lord found equal parts dazzling and surprising, he managed to stall Obi-Wan's swing with a momentary block. Kenobi did not press blade to blade, instead, using the momentum he'd built up, swung again, this time for Tyrannus' chest rather than the shoulder.
The Count blocked this as well, feeling his single hand strain against Kenobi's offensive. Deciding to take initiative once again, he attacked next forcing Obi-Wan to the side and performing a series of thrusts and slicing motions with nothing more than his wrist. Instead of blocking or meeting attack with an attack. Kenobi merely... Danced away from the blows, each one coming furiously, dangerously close to finishing him but never so much as singing the very corners of his robes or hair.
Out of nowhere, Obi-Wan broke the attack sequence with a wide, sweeping Shii-Cho motion that was equal parts wild but also controlled. Kenobi didn't just attack to halt his enemies, he observed the patterns of Tyrannus' attacks and waited for the most opportune time to strike. Dooku himself was left standing mid-thrust while Kenobi's blade came closer and closer to his waist. Yet, instead of cutting him down when he could have, Obi-Wan diverted the trajectory of the blade away from a killing stroke.
The Sith Lord wasted no time in getting away, concentrating a portion of his energies to his feet and launching himself into the air. By the time he landed at one of the many tactical display tables around the control room, Kenobi was already there, performing the same Ataru motion. Momentarily invigorated by this display, The Count smiled, remembering how thoroughly he'd mastered the ins and outs of the form thanks to countless hours sparring with Yoda and Qui-Gon that he waited for the follow-up. Kenobi landing into a crouch and performing a wasteful, ridiculous circle sweep around his entire surroundings to not only strike at the enemy but to cut off any escape.
With grim satisfaction, Tyrannus stood his ground and observed the folly to come with rapt anticipation. Kenobi crouched and swung, the Sith Lord merely took a step back, just far enough away for the blade sweep to miss him and waited for a chance to stab. Then, he struck!
Obi-Wan let his feint play out, appearing to leave himself vulnerable by playing into Dooku's knowledge of Ataru and his experiences with Qui-Gon to cloud his judgment. The Force, as ever, guided him to victory, prompting him to simply let go and relax even as the red blade stabbed forward to carve a hole through his chest. Mid-swing, Obi-Wan limply let himself fall to the table in a move few would attempt to. But it worked.
Dumbfounded, Dooku stared at the absurdity of what he saw and it was all the time Obi-Wan needed. With another feint, this time pretending to carve legs apart, he swung and watched with some amusement as Dooku's eyes widened and he took to the air with a spinning leap of pure acrobatic absurdity. With a blast of telekinetic energy, Obi-Wan sent the Count flying across the room mid-flip and right into one of the walls on the eastern side. Then, with a concentrated burst of Ataru, he spun across the table, leaped to his feet, and crossed the same distance.
The momentum did the rest, leaving the rest of Obi-Wan's energies free to handle other matters, such as feinting a stab of his own this time. Purposefully aimed to strike a few inches away from Dooku's face, the Jedi Master watched his eyes bulge again and him back away with an aristocratic flourish. He recovered quickly enough to begin his trademark Makashi dance again. A series of tight, precise motions meant to confuse and intimidate.
Obi-Wan's defenses met and rendered the assault meaningless. He let the attacks come for as long as Dooku was able to give them, more and more of his attacks becoming clearer with each passing moment. Because of Obi-Wan's own studies into his tactics, or perhaps Qui-Gon's old Master was burning through his reserves of Dark Side power faster than he thought.
Indeed, the only success Dooku managed to acquire by that point was by aiming a kick to Obi-Wan's chest, which the Jedi saw coming and chose instead of meeting or blocking it to simply side-step away.
A curious look passed through Dooku's features. Simultaneously, he looked quite furious at this development, panting quite openly with a scowl and mostly dark look on his face. Yet, there was something else there, something he was fighting not to show. Once Obi-Wan recognized it, he couldn't help but point it out.
"Is that pride I see?"
Dooku's glare intensified for a moment until he eventually, and begrudgingly smiled. "You continue to surprise me Obi-Wan. Indeed, you have learned well from myself... And Qui-Gon as well. Our strengths and weaknesses both."
He accepted the praise sincerely but not without noticing an undercurrent behind those words. Dooku was up to something.
"Indeed, it shames me to resort to measures such as these but sometimes... Even a gentleman must forego proper etiquette."
Immediately, the red saber in his right-hand struck with a weakened but still impressive speed and ferocity. Yet it was only halfway through the fourth attack that Dooku smiled, purposefully missed, and then leaped away into the air, turning off his weapon entirely. Before he could pursue, the entire battlefield began to change.
A series of switches from all about the various control consoles went off, too many for Obi-Wan to keep track off and with them, two things came to pass. All of the doors and windows throughout the room slammed completely shut in a series of deafeningly swift bangs and crashes. After that? Every single light in the room save for the aforementioned buttons and switches lying about and Obi-Wan's own lightsaber died, covering it in total pitch blackness.
A/N: Next time, prepare for lots and lots of The Senate vs Yoda and Anakin.