A MESSED UP DESTINY

A STAR WARS STORY

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Disney owns everything and I make no profit from this.

Hello there everyone and welcome to chapter 12 of A Messed up Destiny! This chapter is a bit from the others is the sense that it doesn't have Anakin and Co as the main characters, but it instead focuses on Count Dooku's thoughts during and after his duel with Darth Vader on Geonosis. It will include a conversation between Dooku and Qui Gon. Also, chapters like this may be shorter than the others, simply because they'll usually take place over very short periods of time. Another thing is that the events of the chapter will be presented from Dooku's point of view and the chapter where Anakin awakes in the infirmary will come directly after this one. Now, without further ado…let's jump straight into it!

Note: For those who are interested, what I'm doing now is called an interlude, hence the title of the chapter. It's used all the times in plays and books to give the audience a break from the main plotline and to showcase something different. In this case, this is one of the rare times where we'll get a Dooku POV.

Note 2: Also, don't think I've forgotten about the little intros in the same style as TCW. I'm bringing those back, starting with this chapter!

After a devastating defeat on the desert planet of Geonosis and his near death, Count Dooku of Serenno, otherwise known as Darth Tyranus, has been called to Coruscant by his Master -Darth Sidious- to discuss his recent failure. While Dooku prepares to explain himself to the other Sith Lord, he contemplates the events that led him to this moment, as well as his miraculous escape from Anakin Skywalker's grasp…

Coruscant, The Works District, Dooku's point of view:

Walking –or rather limping- through the abandoned tunnels of Coruscant's Undercity was unbecoming of a man of my stature, but my Master had insisted on changing our meeting place last minute, saying that he had felt a disturbance in the Force before advising me to be cautious. I, of course, already knew that the disturbance he had felt was the work of Anakin Skywalker, regardless of the fact that it had been unintentional. The boy held so much power, power that would become ours to control if both Master and I played our cards right. Naturally, my mind drifted back to my duel with the boy in that hangar on Geonosis as I began to relive those few moments where I experienced true fear.

The duel had begun like any other between Jedi and Sith, with combatants of both sides ready to fight to their death to achieve victory over the other. The boy, Anakin, had stood beside his Master and –smartly- decided to wait before charging at me.

"You'll pay for all the Jedi you've killed today Dooku.", he had told me, perhaps thinking that he'd be the one to hold me accountable for my actions, not that I was doing something wrong to begin with. I was merely doing what needed to be done in order to bring peace to the Galaxy, but I had never expected Obi Wan Kenobi or his pupil to understand that.

The boy's words made him seem arrogant to me, and perhaps to his Master as well. Kenobi –to give credit where it is due- had tried to get his pupil to cooperate with him in the initial attack, but he failed miserably. Skywalker had exclaimed that he was 'taking him now' and leaped into the air with a Force assisted jump, leaving himself open to my attack, or so I had thought. I tried to hit him with Force Lightning, but the boy had managed to block it with his saber at the last second, while in midair! Needless to say, the momentary display of skill hadn't ended there. That was just the beginning.

Master Kenobi, my 'grand-Padawan' had thought it a good idea to charge after his apprentice and he had quickly discovered how painful Force Lightning could be, while the apprentice in question had barely shot a glance at his Master, instead of angrily attacking me like I had hoped he would. He instead managed to parry each and every one of my attacks –to my absolute surprise- and refused to go down no matter how quickly I changed the direction of saber, even when I had managed to do so mid-strike.

Skywalker went so far as to occasionally lock blades with me for a mere moment or two, effectively disrupting the fluency of my movements without ever allowing to counter or bypass his seemingly unbreakable guard. I was immensely frustrated by this and even came close to giving into my anger completely, but I managed to get a grip of my emotions as soon as the boy gave me some breathing room –how dare he, a mere Padawan, give me, a Master of the blade, breathing room- right after dodging one of my strikes, which made him jump back momentarily. I used this time to steal a glance at Kenobi and seeing him beginning to regain consciousness, sent another barrage of Force Lighting straight at him, which still didn't seem to affect Skywalker in the slightest, with the exception of a momentary opening, which gave me the perfect opportunity to send the boy flying into the nearest wall.

The Padawan managed to surprise me once more when he got up immediately, seemingly not caring that his spine had been slammed against a stone wall. Trying to be more cautious, I took a few steps back while making sure to keep my guard up in case Skywalker had any more surprises left to show me.

"I must say, Padawan, that I am impressed. I was expecting far less from you, and far more from your Master, who you seem to have already surpassed.", I had told the boy, paying him an honest compliment.

"I'm sure I that you did Count, but know that my own powers far exceed yours. You will soon pay for your crimes.", he had told me in return, and had I not seen him fight I would have thought him overconfident from this comment alone.

"If there is one thing I've learned under Yoda-", I begun, hoping to distract him by forcing him to pay attention to my words instead of my blade. "-is that overconfidence-" I had began advancing forwards, twirling my blade as to keep him from guessing my next move. "-is a weakness!", I had finished before lunging forwards, trying to stab him in the chest.

The boy had deflected the attack perfectly and went so far as to try to fake one of his own, but I had –thankfully- seen through the trap and had proceeded to throw a nearby pipe in his direction, which he dodged with nearly zero grace at all. I had found it funny, how quickly this seemingly undefeatable opponent's cool was lost, so I allowed myself to have a laugh, which only prompted the boy to Force Pull his Master's discarded lightsaber to his left hand before resuming the duel, this time waiting for nothing and going on the offensive.

Skywalker switched to Jar'Kai -the dual bladed variant for Form V-, and proceeded to demonstrate an absolute Master over the style as a whole, never leaving either blade immobile and replacing one saber with the other with every attack, leaving me to try and defend against two blades, the very thing Makashi had nearly no defense against. Even I -who had spent years perfect the Form to eliminate this very problem-, was struggling against this mere Padawan, who was fighting better than most Jedi Masters of the era.

Seeing that I'd need to focus completely on Skywalker, I decided to try and put some distance between him and Kenobi in case the latter regained consciousness, not that he would have been a bother under any other circumstance. After a few minutes of trading strikes and parrying the other's attacks, I noticed we were standing near a power cable. More specifically, the cable that powered all the lights in the hangar. This meant that if the cable was destroyed or otherwise damaged, the only light sources in the room would be our two blades, something that would benefit me considering the fact that Lord Sidious had me fighting in pitch black training rooms for a month and that the boy wouldn't be able to see where I was, giving me an easy way out. I was about to strike the cable, but Skywalker must have had the same idea because he got to it first.

His azure blades cut the cord in two, but he wasn't at all startled by the loss of light. Instead, he seemed to fight even better in the dark, as if someone was whispering in his ear about where I was and how to block my attacks, but I had learned that such things are impossible long before this particular encounter. The boy had gotten lucky up until now and I had felt like I was I so very close to victory! I had thought that it would only be a matter of time until the boy's defense faltered and I was proven correct not long after, because I managed to destroy one of his sabers -presumably his own-, leaving him with only one blade. Skywalker was clearly startled by this since he did his best to switch to Form III, but I wasn't about to let him.

My saber had already sliced halfway inside his arm before a scream of utter pain escaped his lips. I –not wanting to waste the very obvious opening and sensing more Jedi draw near- shot a torrent of Force Lighting his way, sending the Padawan flying for the second time of the day. In hindsight, I should have known that something had gone very, very wrong the moment I had sensed his presence not just let the darkness in, but embrace…no, pull it in, practically drowning in the shadows. I had been –and still am- speechless, for I had never felt anyone with a tenth of the power that Skywalker exhibited in that one moment.

Unfortunately for me, that rage and anger that had been created by the loss of a limb was all being directed at me and in that moment, I had learned fear. I had learned that fear was not some fabrication of the mind, or the brain's response to certain stimuli. No. Fear was much realer than that and I was very, very screwed. The boy –though his presence showed him as anything but- called Kenobi's lightsaber to his hand and blocked every single blast of Force Lighting I sent his way. No matter the angle or speed of the attack, he would block it all. The full power of the Dark Side –to an extent I wasn't even sure was possible- was unleashed upon me, along with every object in the hangar that wasn't hinged to something, including several chunks of both the floor and the walls. Not even I know how none of them managed to hit me, but in that moment I cared not.

I had begun looking around frantically, trying to find a way to get past Skywalker and onto my ship so I could leave, but I was –quite literally- backed up against a wall and had nowhere to go. My frantic looks were cut short by the feeling of a mountain falling on top of me, which disappeared as quickly as it came, but –upon later examination- had done significant damage to my bones and even shredded some muscles.

Seeing that Skywalker was moving towards me yet again I blasted him with even more Force Lightning, knowing I was far too weak to fight with a lightsaber, not counting the fact that mine was laying on the floor, out of reach. He didn't even bother with blocking this time around, deciding to allow the Lightning to hit him. I had been momentarily surprised by this, but upon seeing that it was doing nothing to him, I understood why he had allowed it. The Jedi continued to move forwards, slowly advancing towards me and after a few more steps my legs failed me, causing him to tower over my fallen form by the time he did reach me, having been completely unbothered by any and all of my attempts to attack him.

At this point I was exhausted. Not caring how unbecoming of a Sith it was, I began praying that someone, anyone, would come and take the Jedi away from me. That someone would come to save me. Of course, no one had come. In what I thought to be my last few moments in the world of the living, I was filled with nothing but hopelessness and fear. True fear.

It was then –when Skywalker raised his blade high, preparing to end me once and for all- that the unthinkable happened. His blade had stopped mid-strike, having encountered a Force Barrier. I looked to my right and then I had seen him. My old Padawan, Qui Gon himself, coming to my rescue. I had not cared for principle or manners when he told me to run. I simply had. I had started running faster than ever before and –in order to ensure that the boy would be busy doing something other than murdering me- I used whatever strength I had left to pull a pipe out of place and drop it onto Kenobi. That had distracted Skywalker, who had redirected his efforts and decided to save his pathetic Master, giving me the time I needed to escape the hellhole that was Geonosis. The last thing I had seen before boarding my Starfighter was Skywalker collapsing on the ground, exhausted.

I myself had decided to mimic that action as soon as I reached the pilot's seat in the cockpit and collapsed into it before furiously tugging at the controls and blasting off into hyperspace, setting a direct course for Coruscant. A few moments –that felt like an eternity- later, I felt my former Padawan's presence nudging my mental shields, begging for entry. I –exhausted as I was- had allowed it and was quickly rewarded by hearing his voice in my mind.

"Master.", Qui Gon had greeted. "Are you well?",he asked.

I –far too tired to reply with something coy- merely told him the truth. "No, Padawan, I am not."

"And why is that?", he had asked, as if he hadn't seen me nearly die by Skywalker's hand.

"You saw what Skywalker did. That boy nearly killed me." My vocal reply had betrayed my true exhaustion, though Qui Gon had made no comment on it.

"That he did, though it was not his fault. He was trying his best to refrain from killing, or otherwise maiming you, at least until you took his arm."

Being far too tired to dance around the main topic, I had decided to address it then and there. "Padawan-", I had begun. "-Why did you save me?"

"Do not mistake my action as support of your own.", Qui Gon had warned me. "Had Anakin succeeded in destroying you on Geonosis, there was a good chance that he would have fallen to the Dark Side, and irreversibly so."

"So you saved me to protect the boy?", I had asked my former Padawan.

"No. I saved him to ensure he wouldn't repeat your mistake. Siding with Sidious may prove to be the death of you Master, and I won't allow anyone else, especially my grand-Padawan to make the same call, to fall prey to the Dark Side's lure."

I had wanted to answer, to tell Qui Gon that I was in control and that I had conquered the Darkness, but his presence had faded from my mind moments later. Still unsettled by the near death experience, I had fallen into a deep meditative trance until my ship had reached Coruscant.

Many hours had passed since those events, and now I am finding myself limping in the tunnels like a rat, moving towards my Master's location, and barely holding it together. With the plans for the Death Star no longer in my possession, Geonosis having been lost to the Republic and my humiliating defeat at the hands of a boy, I could only hope that Lord Sidious would merciful enough to spare me from his inevitable wrath…

And…scene! There you have it everyone, chapter 12 in all its glory! I really enjoyed writing this one since I rarely ever write from the POVs of side characters like Dooku (considering that he isn't even the main villain and only a pawn), but I'm not too sure about how accurate this is since as I said, I barely ever write him anything but fight scenes from another individual's point of view and this was the first Dooku POV I've ever done, so it would really make my day if you guys could leave a review and tell me where I can improve.

I know this chapter was considerably shorter than what I usually write, but I felt like it was necessary to get an insight into how Dooku felt during that duel, as well as establish that he knowns Qui Gon can communicate with him (amongst others). Because of this, I don't really have anything to analyze here since I feel like everything is explained well during the actual chapter so I'll skip the exposition this time. Just tell me if you want more of these little interludes in between the Arcs of the story and I shall deliver. Consider that these can be from the POV of characters like Rex, Fives, Dooku, Sidious, (maybe) Yoda and other side characters that I may include later on. Anyways, that's all for now.

I'll see you all next time, but until then, May the Force be with you!