I do not own Star Wars or Familiar of Zero.

If I owned Star Wars, I'd have made the movies have a bit better structures to make follow-up material easier.

If I owned Familiar of Zero, I'd have introduced more competent adults.

May the 4th be with you!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.…
Louise de la Valliere summons Count Dooku,
a former Jedi and Sith Lord, as her familiar.
The girl is desperate for validation to be
considered a true mage.
The count, reeling from the betrayal
of his master at the Battle of Coruscant,
is searching for some purpose to fill
the Void in his life.

May the Force be with them.

Count Dooku's hands fell to the ground in a quick succession of dull thuds.

The count stared in horror at the burned ends of his arms. His fierce duel with Anakin had been more difficult than the last, but he hadn't expected to be defeated. Despite the skill and experience Dooku had, Anakin's unrelenting aggression proved triumphant. Finally, after all these years, the young man had managed to tap into the dark side of the Force and realize his true power.

As Anakin snagged the count's lightsaber out of the air, the old man fell to his knees. He had no weapon, nor the hands to wield one. The shock was preventing him feeling the pain, but he was in no condition to continue fighting.

Count Dooku had lost.

"Good, Anakin, good," Chancellor Palpatine said gleefully from his chair. For a man that was restrained and held hostage, he was extraordinarily upbeat. He had been observing the fight for his rescue as entertainment, which, in fact, it was.

"Kill him."

The order, given by the same cheerful, smiling face, caused Dooku's veins to freeze. His head turned, eyes wide in horror, to the chancellor.

Palpatine was smiling, but that smile slowly morphed into a condescending sneer as he commanded, "Kill him, now."

Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, the leader of the Galactic Republic, the most powerful man in the galaxy. Dooku knew him well. So well, in fact, that he knew Palpatine's second identity, Darth Sidious, the man who controlled both sides of the intergalactic war from the shadows.

Dooku knew that his master had no qualms about disposing of pawns who had outlived their value. Many lives Dooku had taken, both directly and indirectly, at the command of his master. Even his own apprentice, Asajj Ventress, had not been safe from Palpatine's orders. While Ventress still lived, it was not out of Dooku's lack of diligence. Despite the sentiments he had for his apprentice, Dooku had sought fervently to kill her on more than one occasion.

However, not once had Dooku expected Sidious to discard him the same way. Dooku had been Sidious's apprentice for years, and while his loyalty had faltered at times, he worked tenfold to redeem himself for every falling. He had successfully set up the Clone Wars and shifted the balance of power galaxy-wide at Sidious's command. Sidious should have known that Dooku's loyalty was guaranteed, and he was still a valuable asset. There should have been no reason to betray him.

Not now.

Not like this.

Anakin looked into Dooku's eyes, trembling and hesitant. The young man that had fought with unrelenting fury now looked lost as he looked at his helpless opponent. Killing Dooku would be criminally easy, but despite the Chancellor's order, Anakin's hands were trembling. "I shouldn't…" the young Jedi said shakily.

The amusement on Palpatine's face quickly vanished. "Do it," he ordered.

It was then that Dooku had a grand revelation. He wasn't being betrayed. Far from it. One can only be betrayed if there had been trust and loyalty to begin with. Darth Sidious had never intended for Dooku to be his true apprentice. All throughout his life, he had only been a piece on a chessboard. A valuable piece, for sure, but that was as far as his value stretched. This was the conclusion of his usefulness, forcing Anakin Skywalker to take the final step to bring him to the dark side.

All those years, wasted. War, dueling, deception, strategy, training, skills that he had taken pride in, had all been used as tools to Darth Sidious's ambition. Every foul act Dooku had committed in the pursuit of the new Empire and the Sith had been in vain. There would be no light at the end of the path that had been paved and paid for in blood. All he had done is stain his hands with the blood of innocents, and dragged so many more people into the depths of the abyss with him.

Dooku looked into Anakin's eyes, anticipating the young man's next move. If he was going to face his death, he would take it with dignity. This was his punishment. For one who had been a force of darkness for so long, death would be the fitting end.

Because of this, he did not notice the green circle that formed underneath him.

Anakin gritted his teeth. Dooku had killed many people, had tried to kill even more, and had taken Anakin's arm. Something in his head told him that what he was doing was wrong, but the words of the Chancellor came to him.

Dooku had to die.

Just as Anakin gathered the resolve, he saw Dooku's body fall. He froze just a fraction of a second, his mind struggling and failing to process as he saw the count's body fall straight through the solid metal floor of the ship. The Count's eyes were bulged with mutual shock, and then he was gone without a trace. Not even his lightsaber or dismembered hands had been left behind.

Palpatine made a tsk of annoyance. "That… was unexpected," he remarked sourly.

Louise de la Valliere.

Louise the Zero.

Both were names given to her. The former, the abridged version of her legal name. The latter, the title she had acquired during her time at the academy. One, she felt she wasn't worthy of carrying, the other, she despised but had no argument against it.

Louise was a failure of a mage. In her entire life, she had failed to cast a single spell properly, regardless of the instruction of her family and teachers. Which, in a magiocratic society like Tristan, made her almost indistinguishable from a commoner. If it wasn't for the fact that Louise's father was a duke and her mother was practically a national treasure, Louise knew she would have been a lot worse off. As it was, all she had to deal with was the ridicule of her peers and some of her teachers.

Up until this point, at least. Now, she had to pass the Familiar Summoning Exam. Despite being called an exam, it was more of a coming-of-age ritual set up by the Founder Brimir himself six millennia ago. The mage would have to say a few words, call upon the magic of the elements, and a familiar would be summoned and bound to them. It was very simple, and no mage in the history of the Halkegenian continent had ever failed.

Which meant if Louise failed here, then she truly wasn't a mage.

Louise watched as the latest of her classmates summoned their familiar. A girl by the name of Montmorency had just finished bind a familiar contract with a frog. The amphibian fit Montmorency's affinity for water magic, as a familiar should.

"Is that everyone?" Professor Colbert, the supervisor for the exam, asked.

"Louise hasn't gone yet!" Kirche called out.

Kirche was a Germanian buxom redhead who was the bane of Louise's school life. The foreigner's family—the Zerbsts—had a long-standing feud with the Vallieres. Kirche and Louise continued the tradition, but since Kirche was a popular and successful student, Louise found herself on the losing end with every exchange.

This time, however, Louise was determined to get the upper hand. She would summon a familiar the likes of which no one had ever seen. Louise gave the redhead a challenging glare, which was returned by a wink.

"Ah, yes," said Colbert, wondering how he could forget one of his most memorable students. "Mrs. Valliere, please come forward and perform the ritual."

Gathering up all of her pride, Louise stepped out of the ring of students. Her eyes flickered to the crowd of her peers that encircled her. They were watching at her, awaiting entertainment, wanting to see how badly she would screw this up.

Louise took a deep, calming breath. She wouldn't fail here, not with her pride and future on the line. "My divine, wise, beautiful, powerful familiar," she began in a loud voice.

"What's she saying?" one student whispered.

"That isn't a part of the ritual," another remarked.

"She must be desperate," a third snickered.

"Let her finish," Colbert silenced the students' whispers, though he too was curious. While the ritual didn't have a strict wording, Louise's opening had already gone far outside the norm.

Louise could feel her Willpower building up. She continued disregarding the traditional words, and instead followed the feeling from her heart. "Come from the far reaches of the universe!"

The pressure was building inside of her. This was far more Willpower than any of her other failures had generated. This was going to work; she was sure of it!

"By the power of the five elements, answer my summons, appear before me!"

Power, unprecedent magical force, surged from Louise's body.

The result: the largest and loudest explosion Louise had ever created.

As the explosion blinded and deafened everyone for a brief moment, Colbert saw Louise's body fall forward lifelessly.

"Miss Valliere!" the teacher cried out in alarm. Casting a spell to accelerate himself, he dashed over to the girl, catching her before she could hit the ground. "Miss Valliere, what's wrong?"

Hearing no response, Colbert laid Louise on the ground. Thankfully, he had a military background that included training in first aid.

"What happened to Louise?" Kirche called out, looking genuinely concerned for her classmate/rival.

"It seems to be a case of Willpower depletion," Colbert said, concluding his analysis. "Strange, none of her other explosions caused this. And the ritual isn't supposed to be exhaustive. What changed this time?"

"Look!" One of the students called out. "The Zero actually summoned something."

Colbert looked up to see a fallen figure amidst the fading smoke. "Gust," he chanted, clearing away the haze. His eyes widened as he saw a robed body lying lifelessly on the ground. "By the Founder!"

The person didn't react to Colbert's cry. The professor ran to the person's side and turned them face up. He could see that the person was an old man, looking to be around the Headmaster's age. He was breathing, thankfully, but it was shallow. Colbert lifted up the man's wrist to read his pulse, and gasped.

Several students screamed as they saw Colbert hold the man's handless arm. Colbert looked down and saw the man's hands were lying on the ground, partial concealed by his robes, burned at the ends but still warm to the touch.

"Call the headmaster! Call the water mages!" the professor called out urgently.

What had Louise done?

The Tristan Magic Academy was designed as a pentagon, with a large tower in the center and five smaller towers marking each corner of the academy's perimeter. Each of the five outer towers was dedicated to an element. Inside, teachers of that element resided and taught their respective classes. The Water Tower additionally doubled as medic center because healing predominantly fell under the domain of water magic.

Inside the tower, the most senior healer was at the bedside of the old man Louise had summoned. Sitting in a nearby chair was the summoner herself. She held herself rigidly, trying to appear stoic despite the worry she carried.

Eventually, the water mage finished his examination. He began writing down the results of his analysis, speaking aloud for Louise's benefit. "His body is taking the treatment well. While it's unlikely that his hands will regain their full strength, he should be able to use them to some degree when he wakes up."

"When will that be, Mister Mondeville?" Louise asked.

The elderly mage sighed. "Who but the Founder can say?" he replied solemnly. "By all accounts, his body has recovered enough over the past three days that he should have awoken already. There's a possibility that the shock of his injuries has damaged his mind as well. If that's the case, his condition is beyond my abilities to repair. There's even a chance he could never wake up."

"He will recover," Louise said firmly. "He must."

"Miss Valliere," the man began in a tone that carried wearied patience. "As strong as your will is, you must face reality. Even if your familiar summoning ritual truly summoned this man—"

"Which it did," Louise interjected.

"—this will not end if he wakes up." The mage looked annoyed at being interrupted. "This man is clearly a noble, and he shows the signs of being an experienced mage knight. If your summoning not only kidnapped a noble but also dismembered and permanently crippled him, then you can expect retribution from his home country. This will effect not just you, but your family, this academy, and even potentially the country."

"I understand all of that," Louise said. Her voice did not waver, even as it was laden with guilt.

Mondeville sighed. "You're as stubborn as your mother was," he grumbled, not unkindly. He tucked his notes under his arm and walked to the door. "Make sure you don't fall behind on your studies while you're here. Watching him sleep is no excuse."

"I won't," Louise promised.

The door closed behind the old mage, leaving Louise alone with the comatose man she summoned. For several minutes she sat in silence, watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

Eventually, she spoke. Barely louder than a whisper, just to fill the silence, but also as a plea to whatever force of the universe could hear her. "I don't care what the consequences are," she said softly, taking the old man's hand and squeezing it. "I'm already worth nothing to everyone. At this point I doubt my own family will keep a disappointment like me. But I refuse to leave things like this. I summoned you, and I will take whatever punishments I deserve. But I need you to wake up. I need to prove myself. Please, wake up."

Something deep within Louise began to move. A sudden Force ran through her body and into her hand. She jumped, dropping the man's hand, and the sensation was gone. Then she noticed that the man's hand was starting glow as runes began to form on it.

"B-but I didn't do the contract!" she exclaimed. The familiar contract had much more specific wording than the summoning ritual. Unless, by messing up the summoning, she had also corrupted the process of the familiar contract?

To make matters worse, binding another mage as a familiar was unheard of. Louise needed proof that her summoning had succeeded and that she wasn't a failure. She could handle the price of kidnapping and grievous injury, but binding a noble as a familiar could mark her as a heretic! This was the absolute worst outcome! Forget being a disappointment; once the church found out, she'd be disgrace!

"Who…" a raspy voice began, before breaking into a fit of wheezing and coughing. Louise snapped out of her panic, noticing that the old man was now awake and hacking his lungs out.

"Don't try to speak yet!" she urged. She rushed to his bedside table, which had a pitcher and set of cups. She poured the man a cup and lifted it to his parched lips, helping him drink. Seeing him struggle to prop himself up on his elbows, she reached behind his back and helped him up.

"Ahhh…" the man said in relief. His face relaxed briefly, but quickly grew concerned once he realized he was in an unfamiliar area. He then turned to Louise and asked, "Who are you? And where am I?"

Louise took a step back and gave a formal curtsy. "I am Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere," she introduced herself. "May I ask your name?"

"Count Dooku of Serenno," he replied, giving her an evaluating look.

Louise didn't recognize the name or country, but his title confirmed that he was a noble. "I'm sure you're tired, so I'll call the doctor and let you rest."

"No," Dooku said firmly. "Stay." The order was curt, delivered with undeniable authority despite the count's frail state.

Louise hesitated, but then nodded. She slid into her chair with the grace of the young lady, unconsciously clenching her fists atop her knees.

Dooku took a look at the surroundings around him. He was certain that he wasn't on a General Grevious's ship anymore, or any ship for that matter. As far as he could tell, he looked to be on an underdeveloped, primitive planet. The room was clearly in an infirmary of some sort, but he saw no signs of even basic medical technology.

Another sign was that the girl, Louise, showed no recognition of his name. She recognized his rank, certainly—with a name like that he had no doubt that she was a noble herself—but to not recognize his name was unusual. Dooku had rose to prominence over the years due to his work as Head of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Any planet with even the most basic of space technology should know who he is.

The more Dooku thought, the more questions he found. Seeing the girl squirm in her seat, he finally said, "Lady Valliere, I have some questions that I hope you an answer."

"Y-yes, of course," Louise said. She had watched his troubled expression, and was dreading but expecting some tough questions. "But, um, you do not need to address me as 'lady'. I have not yet earned that title."

"Oh? And what should I refer to?"

"Miss Louise is fine."

"Miss Louise then," Dooku acknowledged. He noted that part of the conversation as 'odd' and filed it away for later. "My first question is, how did I get here?"

The girl visibly flinched. Her clenched fists tightened as they lay on her knees. "That was entirely my fault."

The confession didn't answer the most important of Dooku's question, but seeing her difficulty, the count patiently waited for her to elaborate.

It took a few moments, but Louise continued, "It was the Familiar Summoning Exam. I was using the founder's summoning ritual to summon a familiar, but I was worried about it not working so I improvised the spell." Louise voice cracked. "It went, horribly wrong. Instead of a familiar, I summoned you instead. And your hands…"

"My hands?" Dooku looked down in wonder, and realized that he did, in fact have hands. Even though he clearly remembered them being severed at the wrist. He moved his fingers. They were slow to react, and slightly painful to use, but clearly not illusions or prosthetics.

"The water mages were able to reattach them, but they say you'll probably never regain full use of them again," Louise said bitterly. "It was entirely my fault. My incompetence as a mage has kidnapped and crippled you." She bowed her head deeply. "I know that nothing can make up for that, but I swear to compensate you, on my name as a Valliere."

The sincerity in Louise's voice moved Dooku. How long had it been since he had met a youth with such a strong sense of justice? Even when she was in the wrong, she willingly admitted to her mistakes and shouldered the responsibility. If only there had been more people like her in the world, maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have gone down the path he did.

But there was something about her apology that struck him as odd. "By summoning, do you mean you pulled me through space to bring me here?" Dooku asked for clarification.

"Yes…"

Dooku smiled wryly at that. There was no deceit to be found in her words. He had heard of summoning spirits, but summoning a living person from across the galaxy? That was a power that both the Jedi and Sith would covet if they heard about it. "You need not apologize, Miss Louise," said Dooku. "In fact, I should be thanking you."

Louise's head snapped up. "I beg your pardon?" she questioned, confusion clearly written on her face.

"I was about to die," Dooku revealed. "I had accepted my death and was regretting the mistakes I had made in my life. It was then that you summoned me, saving me from my demise."

"But your hands! My summoning severed them!"

"Is that what a summoning ritual normally does?" Dooku asked with a chuckle. "I hesitate to ask what else you have summoned."

"Well, no, it's not supposed to," Louise admitted. "And I hadn't summoned anything before either. But it must have been my fault. Otherwise, why were your hands cut off?"

The count shook his head. "It was not you who removed my hands."

"Then… how?"

"I was in a duel," said Dooku. "My opponent was passionate young man who I had defeated once before. However, I underestimated his growth. He was able to overpower and disarm me." The count smiled and added ironically, "I suppose that I deserved it."

Louise knew that duels were serious affairs, but cutting off someone hands before killing them? That was simply barbaric! No one deserved that! She stifled her indignation and asked, "Was it a duel to the death?"

Dooku pondered for a bit before responding. "In a way, yes," he said. "The purpose of the duel was to kill me, but I was dead man long before that. I merely hadn't realized it."

Indeed, the entire Battle of Coruscant had been the stage to set up his fall and Anakin's rise. Dooku had no doubt that had Anakin not killed him there, Sidious would've forced the lad to kill him before they had escaped General Grievous's ship.

"That sounds terrible…"

"I have made many mistakes in my life. My end was only fitting for the life I had lived." Seeing her despondent expression, he said, "Don't look so sad, Miss Louise. After all, I have you to thank for saving me. Take some pride in your accomplishment."

"I am unworthy of such praise."

From any other noble, Dooku would have assumed false humility in those words. However, Louise was as genuine as ever. "Why do you say that?" Dooku asked. "Summoning a man from across the galaxy, seconds away from his peril, is a feat unheard of even by the most powerful users of the Force." He closed his eyes and focused. "Indeed, you have incredible power within you, more so than my own, and second only to one person I know."

Louise turned away and blushed. "Don't tease me so," she said bashfully.

"Tease?" Dooku questioned. "Miss Louise, I do not tease."

"But I'm not nearly as great as you say," Louise said softly. "I'm…"

There she was doing it again, letting her sentences die in hesitation. "Speak your mind, child," Dooku urged her.

Louise took a deep breath, and then said in a quiet rush, "I'm called Louise the Zero, a title I gained because I never once casted a spell properly in my life. My classmates know it. My teachers know it. My family especially knows it. I am a failure of a mage and a disgrace to my family name." She smiled at him bitterly. "I apologize for bringing your hopes up, but your summoning was entirely due to luck."

"Luck? Preposterous," Dooku scoffed. "Luck might have saved my life, but your abilities are your own."

"But I can't do anything!" Louise protested. "Every other spell I cast turns into a harmless explosion. Even the spell I used for you exploded! Summoning you proves that I'm a mage, but I still have a long way to go to prove myself."

The conversation was spiraling into a nosedive. His rescuer was immensely powerful, Dooku could feel it. The people of her planet were capable of using magic, yet none had noticed the fountain untapped potential within her? Was her confidence thoroughly shattered to the point that she couldn't recognize the fruit of her success when it was speaking to her face to face?

The count's body sagged as a wave of exhaustion rolled over him. Louise noticed this and stood up. "I kept you talking for too long," she apologies. "You should rest to recover your strength. I'll let Mister Mondeville know you're awake."

The count nodded wearily, he slowly lowered himself back down to the bed as he felt the darkness come over his eyes. "We will speak later, Miss Louise," he said before finally succumbing.

He had been summoned by one of the strongest force users he had ever seen. When he was in that dark space, expecting to be dead, he had heard her voice calling out to him, begging for him to wake up. The sadness, guilt, and desperation he had felt had stirred him. And then had come the surge of the Force. It had flown through his body, electrifying it. It had been painful, but he had suffered far worse, and in the end, he had felt energized.

The power Louise wielded was immense. Given enough time and practice, she could feasibly surpass Dooku. If a bright and promising individual like her went down the wrong path, would she turn out just like him?

No.

He would not allow it.

Louise would not go down the same bitter road he had taken.

He would make sure of it.

That wasn't a satisfying ending.

You know why?

Because...

THIS IS NOT A ONE-SHOT.

Although this was originally intended to be a one-shot, I found enough material to write a potential three-shot. I originally condensed everything into a 4.5k one-shot, but the day before I was supposed to upload this, I thought, "Wow, there's a lot of things I wanted to do here that I wasn't able fit in without making this one-shot very disjointed. I guess I won't be able to use them."

Then I thought, "Wait, May the 4th is when I'll upload this, but I just learned that May 25th is the anniversary of the original trilogy. That means there's 2 days this month with Star Wars significance!"

So yeah, this story will be a surprise two-shot. As an author, I reserve the write to completely change my mind the day before publication (Because I just finished classes and can afford to spend two days doing nothing but writing). This first chapter, as per the formula of this series, is the set-up. Next chapter will handle all the things I wanted to touch on for Dooku. There'll be time skips, but I'll try to make them flow as smoothly as possible.

This story was brought to you by the winner of last year's Ko-Fi donation/poll SombraZorro70! Thanks to their overwhelming contribution, this ended up being more of a commission XD. If anyone wants to throw me a couple of bucks in exchange for helping me decide what one-shot will come next, I'd appreciate it. My Ko-Fi name is the same as my FFn name, "RainEStar3". The four candidates so far are: Alexander (Fate/Grand Order), Grim (The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy), King (One Punch Man), Po (Kung Fu Panda).

EDIT NOTE: Thanks to initial feedback, I've made a few small tweaks to make Dooku more in-character.

Also, I called May 25th Star Wars day when it's the Anniversary of the original trilogy. My bad!

Finally, I'm not going to upload on the 25th because I've realized I need more time to write everything I want to do. I don't know when I'll upload, but the time will be worth it.

There's more I'd like to say, but this A/N is getting long. More information will be on my Ko-Fi and Spacebattles Forums (My name is cross-platform to make things easier). And please, leave a review! Dooku is the character I've had to do the most research for due to a lack of familiarity (Sorry, I'm only a casual Star Wars fan, don't hurt me). Even with months of work put in, I'm not sure I got him perfectly in character. There's also that he's recoiling from having his mindset broken, and that always changes how one thinks. Feedback is very much appreciated! Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!