Author's Notes: Ahem *clears throat* - this chapter contains bad language, violence and the revelation of some rather disturbing facts. *blinks* You have been warned. *runs away quickly* Heh.
*For Strider's Girl - the long-awaited rematch! ^_~ *
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"ECLIPSE"
Part 25
Dooku hadn't been wholly untruthful - he had needed some time to himself. But now that he was alone with his mind, he wasn't so sure that it'd been a good idea…
He'd let his feet take him for a walk, guiding him from his lodgings, and he'd ended up here, in the palace's Power Core.
It was a huge place; between multiple catwalk levels and maintenance shafts, large humming columns of raw energy pulsated, deadly to the touch and unpleasant to be in the presence of. The Count rolled his sleeves back as he entered the cavernous chamber, trying to offer himself some comfort in the Core's close atmosphere; he wasn't planning on staying here long, anyway, but something had drawn him here, and he wanted to find out what…
His eyes wandered the far reaches of the hall whilst his feet paced down the central walkway – the place had an eerie, deathly feel to it; the walls echoed with voices of old, and throbbed with a pain and an anguish that had long since been forgotten.
~ "We'll handle this" ~
The scuffling and pouncing of feet resonated once more over the empty floor and flickered round the inner confines of Serenn's mind; the hum and fizzle of lightsabres joined the rhythm as they swerved and crossed, accompanying the laboured hissing and grunting of the combatants' breaths. Even the burning ire that had once been in each of the warriors' eyes could almost be felt again…
With an almighty leap, Dooku vaulted onto a platform high above, a choice he let the Force automatically make for him. He landed cat-like on the higher metallic surface before he once again went on with his short journey.
The Force continued to guide him, continued to give his mind's eye a demonstration of what had gone before, of what had transpired here: By now, in the duel, limbs were growing tired, and - as the combat grew more desperate - more savage moves began to take precedence over those more honourable; elbows met chests, boots struck jaws…it wasn't your usual elegant Jedi combat style, but a battle pushed one to their limits – there was no place for etiquette when your life was at stake.
Further on the Count walked, his footfalls echoing faintly where furious boots had a decade ago stomped. He came to a halt when he reached a hallway, one filled with cycling red doors.
His eyes became dark as he stared straight through them to the Melting Pit, laying ominously at the corridor's end – he felt a cold rage begin to overcome him, one identical to the rage he'd unleashed back at the time, when it had happened…
He closed his eyes:
~ Obi-Wan stood restlessly on the spot, cut off by several doors from his master. His palms were sweating, his heart racing – the Sith Warrior was but metres from him, yet he could not reach him or his master, Qui-Gon Jinn. 'Come on' the Padawan urged the cycling doorways, staring at them vigorously, almost hoping that they would back down in return…
Nothing happened.
The time crept by as slowly as it could… The Sith Warrior paced before Jinn, only one doorway from him, whilst Qui-Gon sat on his knees and meditated. ~
The doors cycled off. Dooku's eyes shot open and he walked forward, passing four doors at one time before halting for the next cycle.
~ Obi-Wan was now at the final door, lightsabre ready. The last cycle hadn't been enough – he had to wait out yet another turn before he could reach his flailing mentor. But his heavy heart told him already that it was too late… ~
Serenn sighed, feeling a painful twang in his heart – it was all so clear, all so plain, now that he was here, at the place where it had transpired. But it was also only the more heartbreaking. His body was filled with raw wrath and agony, his old wounds torn open once more, though he knew that he only had himself to blame; he had chosen to come here, after all…or had chosen to allow himself to be led here.
The doors cycled off and he made it to the core – the infamous melting pit. A stillness more deadly than any he had so far passed through met him with full force, and he closed his eyes once more, becoming one with the Force and hearing the ghosts of the past call out to him…
~ "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" ~
The Separatist cringed as the cry of Obi-Wan tore through him, his head booming with a sudden agonising jolt: Qui-Gon Jinn had been run through.
His hands tightened into solid balls and he dropped to his knees.
~ "It is too late…" ~
Sabres swung in frenzy as youthful bodies, guided by youthful fury, rushed against one another in combat.
~ "Obi-Wan…promise…" ~
The young men somersaulted, cart wheeled and fought at unbelievable speeds, their bodies fuelled with determination, blinding them from pain and fatigue, blurring their mind and clouding their senses. All that mattered was the moment and the honours of their masters.
~ "Promise me you'll train the boy" ~
The young Jedi was unequally matched by the young Sith, however, and the Padawan soon fell victim to the Dark Lord's powers, flung down the pit's central core by a mere waft of the Sith's hand. Hanging onto an appendage on the pit's edge, his lightsabre lost, he knew, as well as his opponent, that the only thing standing between his consequent survival or death was the mere strength of his hold….
~ "Yes, Master" ~
The young Jedi made an incredible comeback, however – he persevered, brought on the Force, and even risked elements of the Dark side to leap out of the pit and back onto the surface above. Drawing his Master's idle weapon to his hand, he turned, and - with his only wish then being to avenge his master - swung the lightsabre in a point blank blow. There was a gasp, then a spray of blood, before shock finally permeated the features of the Dark warrior. He fell backwards down the pit, cleaved into two.
The young Jedi stood there for but a moment, his body calming from its exertions, before he reluctantly came to terms with his grim victory.
~ "He is the Chosen One…he will bring balance" ~
The Padawan became the Master, and his childhood ended the moment he found out that even he, a Jedi, was going to die.
~ "Train him" ~
Three shadows of the past of which only Kenobi remained alive today; only he emerged from that horrific battle.
"Only my Kenobi…" Serenn mused in a restrained whisper, reopening his eyes and coming back to the present. His hand was clutched over his heart, the events that had long ago transpired here continuing to replay over in his mind, again, and again, and again…
"You taught him well, Qui-Gon, my old friend," he added, looking up into the high vaulted ceiling above, "But you never were a keen fighter yourself. If you had been, then perhaps you would still be alive today."
He paused for a moment, allowing himself a deep sigh; "Where that would leave me now," he eventually pondered, looking blankly across the metallic floor, "I know not…"
Again and again, the vision of the demonic Darth Maul running his Padawan through replayed before his mind's eye, until he knew off by heart every single flinch of agony and despair that arose in his former protégé's face, until he knew the exact timing of the move that killed him, the exact position of the rupture through his torso, the exact moment of his fall, and every time he heard the horrified, helpless scream of the young Obi-Wan, crying out "NOOO!" in vain as he watched his master's life taken from him. It was the heart-wrenching cry that Serenn had heard at the time, wherever he had been – he could not remember for sure – he could only recall the pain he had felt, the agony, the grief. And it had haunted him and plagued his nightmares ever since…
He realised that he was now short on breath, hunched over his knees, heart aching and chest tight; "Why?" he gasped, "Why is Fate playing with us like this?"
~ "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" ~
"Why do I constantly find that I'm at odds with myself? Why is my own blood played against me? Am I battling myself?"
Confusion saturated the former Jedi's mind, a confusion that he had long kept trapped beneath the darkness of his cold, metal psyche, the psyche that had ruled him for the past decade; now, though, this place had finally released it from its cage…
"All my life, I've tried to do what is right, or whatever it takes to make things right…so why is it that I often question my actions? Why am I feeling regret, and what for? Why have the boundaries of right and wrong blurred before me, and why am I doing what I know for certain is wrong to make me feel right?"
/There are no sides to the Force/
Serenn froze, and he looked about himself; he was not alone. "What?" he queried quietly.
/There are no sides to the Force/
"There certainly are."
/There are no sides to the Force – only sides to those who use it/
He swallowed, a faint smile pricking up at the corners of his mouth, "Now the Padawan teaches the Master, eh, Qui-Gon?" He pushed himself to his feet, inhaling deeply, "I miss you, old friend. Part of me misses you, but…I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know where I'm going. I want order, I want this galaxy to work, I…"
/How can we judge each other when we can't judge ourselves?/
"More philosophical lectures?" he growled.
/How can you judge others when you can't judge yourself?/
"I don't know what you're talking about! I don't try to judge others, and I'm beyond judging myself – I don't even know who my 'self' is!"
/Then find out before it is too late/
A frown furrowed his brow.
/Jedi or Sith? Ally or Foe? Lover or Abuser? Loyalist or Traitor? Father or Destroyer? Master or Apprentice?/
Another slight smirk rose on Dooku's countenance, "Still wry as ever, Padawan…"
/Jedi/
"The Order couldn't contain me – or you. It trapped us, and you know it…"
/Ally/
"To the Republic? No… It is in need of change, we all know that – you can't tell me honestly that it isn't."
/Lover/
"You know as well as the rest that I was never loyal to the code – who was? I've even heard that you, too, once fell in love. Perhaps we are not the offenders – perhaps it is the code that needs to change, along with the ever-changing times…"
/Loyalist/
"To whom, Qui-Gon? To you, of course, but to the Republic? To the Jedi? I think not. You, like my other Padawans, were the children I never –"
/Father/
"…never had." He paused and gave the air a scowl, withdrawing for a moment.
/Master/
He blinked, shaking his head, "I was a master… am now an apprentice again. Are you saying that I'm worth more, that I should still be a master? I still have much to learn, old friend… much more." He paused once more and allowed himself a quick smile; he sensed that his time here was almost up - it was time for him to go.
"Good day, my Padawan," he whispered to the vacant chamber, "Until our next meeting."
He bowed sincerely, then made his way out.
Serenn emerged from the Power Core not long afterward and, as he made his way through a starfighter hangar, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks - his senses had latched onto something, a huge ripple in the Force… Something was amiss.
His eyes drew over to a dark corner of the hangar, and there they stopped, narrowing toward the gloom; "I know you're there, Skywalker," he growled, "There's no need to be shy… Come on out."
Anakin emerged like a creature of the night from the shadows, his eyes burning with a passionate frenzy, "I've been waiting for you," he said.
"So, you finally show your face," the Count began, his hand hovering ready by his sabre, "You've disobeyed your council and run amok, killing one of my colleagues in the process, causing an intergalactic strife far worse than that which we started with… and all just to get to me?" He laughed guardedly, "Even I wasn't that reckless as a Jedi or Padawan…"
"They hold me back," Skywalker retorted, "I need to stop you now and avenge my Padmé before it's too late."
The Count grinned, shaking his head, "Stop me? Boy, you can't possibly have learnt enough since our last meeting to allow you to even come close to equalling me in battle - there just hasn't been the time."
"You're blinded by arrogance."
"No, you are the one who is blinded, child; I praise you for your tenacity and determination, but must condemn you for your ever-prevailing stupidity…"
"We shall see… You're just all talk!"
Dooku snickered, "I believe that the shiny appendage in place of your arm contradicts that claim."
Anakin ignored his scorn; "You know why I'm here," he stated simply.
"For a rematch, no?" the Count lightly rejoined.
Ani drew the hilt of the sabre by his side into his metallic hand, "You got it, old man," he nodded, "But you may be able to save yourself the bother if you cooperate…"
Serenn chuckled, " 'Cooperate'?"
Anakin pointed his sabre nozzle in Dooku's direction, "Just hand over Padmé now and there'll be no trouble."
"Oh, how you make me laugh," Serenn went on slyly, " 'No trouble', indeed… You're intent on fighting me, anyway; I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your every spoken syllable."
"Stop talking so much shit, 'Serenn'!" the Padawan snapped.
Dooku only shook his head, "Tch, tch… foul language can't hurt me, and it's not clever, boy. Any foolish lout can cuss."
Anakin hurled his Jedi cloak to the floor, taking a grip of his lightsabre with both hands, preparing for battle.
Once more, Serenn only chuckled, "Oh, be serious, Skywalker! Do you really think you have what it takes to match me in combat?"
"I checked up on you in the Archives - I know your fighting style…"
"Oh, I feel most threatened."
"Plus I'm the Chosen One - the most powerful Jedi ever. It'll be no problem…"
"It certainly won't be a problem…" Serenn conceded, "When you're dead."
Anakin's lip trembled in fury and, with a vicious momentum, he flung himself across the hangar floor, the green blade of Qui-Gon Jinn bursting to life in his grasp. Without delay, Dooku's sabre was also drawn, and their blades met with a terrific crackle.
Whilst their weapons fizzled and sparked against one-another, Serenn and Anakin locked gazes, and - though it was debatable as to which of the two fumed with the more fury - a most notable dark malice had suddenly overcome Dooku's brow; "You arrogant brat," the separatist hissed, unblinking, "You dishonourable child, you would use my former Padawan's weapon against me?"
Anakin threw him a cocky shrug, "I'm sure Qui-Gon would be happy to know it'd been put to good use."
"I thought you would have respected him more than that…" Dooku glowered.
"I respect him enough to defend his honour against his former master, who turned to the Dark side…"
Dooku's glare only hardened, his grip remaining startlingly unyielding.
With a grunt, Ani tore away from the Count, before he then began to sling several jabbing shots toward the elder warrior; Dooku effortlessly deflected every incoming blow with a single-handed parry, however, much to the boy's annoyance…
"Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about 'Qui-Gon's nobleness'," Anakin went on impatiently, "I came here to find Padmé - now where is she?"
"She's not far," Serenn eventually replied, his mood much more embittered than it had been to start with, "Not far…" He was next to launch an assault, and swung a fluid cleaving shot toward the Padawan's knees. Anakin cleared this, leaping over the lethal, red blade, before returning a complimentary shot toward Dooku's stomach. The Separatist sprang backward, knocking the green blade away, before waiting for the next assault, his glare upon the boy unyielding.
"You'd better have not laid a finger on her," Anakin snarled, shaking his head, "You'd better not have harmed her!" His blade suddenly became a whirling vortex as he allowed himself to waltz into a towering inferno of rage, allowed himself to recollect the most foul and disturbing images he'd witnessed during his recent nightmares concerning the Senator and the Separatist, and allowed himself to then use these as fuel for his ever-growing fire of ire…
Serenn was well prepared, and parried the rapid volley of blows; "And if I have?" he replied as he deftly continued to deflect each assault with lightning reactions, his feet dancing fluidly back across the floor, giving him room to manoeuvre.
"Your life is forfeit!" Anakin bellowed.
Dooku surprised the Padawan by diving back into the fray with a powerful blow toward the Padawan's shoulder, a blow under which Anakin shuddered as he parried; "What's the matter, Anakin?" he taunted viciously, "Not jealous, are we?"
"Jealous? Of you, you scumbag?" Ani retorted, "Hah! I wouldn't waste my time envying the sorry likes of you!"
"Pity," Serenn smiled, "One would have thought that, if you truly loved Padmé, you'd feel pangs of jealousy toward the man who had taken her first."
Anakin's eyes narrowed as he watched a leering grin rise on Dooku's features; "Oh yes…" he went on, "Word reached me that the Force made you privy to my affairs."
"Then it happened," Ani stated in a pained daze, "It really happened…." A cocktail of emotions began to run through his veins - anger, hatred, shock, rage, despair, vengefulness - all of them building up into a crazed frenzy; "You bastard," he growled, "You twisted, evil -"
" 'Bastard', yes, I heard you the first time," the Count dryly interrupted, "Though I'll have you know I was a perfectly legitimate child."
Anakin wasn't amused; "You will pay," he snarled, "You will pay!"
"You can't undo what has been done, boy. You can't give Padmé back that which I have taken from her! Or that which she gave to me…"
"She wouldn't… I don't know how you did it, but -"
"Oh, victim of the green-eyed monster!" he ridiculed, "It isn't good, is it? Not only does an octogenarian defeat you in battle and take your arm and your pride, he also takes your 'girlfriend' - it's such a pretty situation..."
Skywalker snapped, "BASTARD!" he yelled, launching himself at Dooku. The two clashed, a friction and titanic rage burning between them.
"What makes you think she even wants to go back to you, Anakin?" the Count continued to provoke, "What makes you believe that she didn't give herself to me freely?"
"You lie! I know Padmé! She told me about how you could 'control' her!"
"Or maybe she just couldn't control herself."
"That's ridiculous!"
They broke apart, the power behind their ensuing strikes intense, their feet moving across the floor rapidly and their muscles pumping hard in order to support the exertion of their bodies.
"Padmé loved me!" Anakin stated indisputably, "She told me so herself, and you witnessed it, back on Geonosis… you can't tell me that she loves you more!"
Serenn laughed, "Did I mention love?"
Anakin spun a shot toward the Count's head; Dooku parried and kicked Ani in the stomach; Anakin drew back for a moment, before recovering, and sweeping a cut up from the floor, aiming to cleave the Count in two through his groin…
Teeth clenched, eyes intensifying, Serenn slammed his blade down onto Anakin's and locked it against his, holding it down toward the floor. Both men glared at one-another, incensed breaths coming thick and fast from their gaping mouths; "Too close…" the Count seethed bitterly.
Anakin swallowed hard, shaking his head, "Not close enough!" he retorted. He threw himself into the air, and plunged his sabre down over Dooku's head; the Count raised his sabre and dropped to one knee, taking the full impact of the blow as it rained down upon him. He then thrust Anakin's sabre off of his, before rolling backward and flipping onto his feet.
Skywalker barely had time to prepare himself for the next assault, though, as Dooku hurtled back into him without delay, hacking savagely at his other shoulder…
"I can sense your disappointment," Serenn taunted as Anakin shuddered beneath the vicious blow, "You wanted Padmé to be yours, didn't you? Yours and yours alone! But you can't have that anymore… the chance has gone. You're too late."
Anakin's face contorted in rage, every taunt on Dooku's behalf only serving to wind him up further and further; his heated rage pumped harder and harder in his ears and he lost what little patience he had left; "SHUT UP!" he cried, his anger empowering his skills, adding only more velocity and strength to his movements…
"Argh!" Serenn barked, stumbling backwards as the boy successfully penetrated his defences; he glanced to his chest - it had once again been seared by the Skywalker's blade. He looked back to Ani once more, "You shouldn't have done that…" he growled, before he expelled all of his breath one, tremendous battle cry, and pummelled his sabre into Anakin as hard as he could.
A savage fight ensued, with an amalgamation of fury, wrath and blood filling the air; the sabres crackled and fizzled against one another at incredible speeds, clashing, parrying, then clashing again in succession.
Serenn slashed Skywalker's shoulder, Anakin grazed Dooku's knee; Serenn scorched Ani's calf, the Padawan gashed the Count's thigh.
"I'll never forgive you for this!" the boy cried in the midst of the fray, "She was mine, she's always been mine - my angel! You shouldn't have taken her away from me!" He summoned a crate to him and sent it flying into Serenn's hand.
The Count cried as his lightsabre was propelled from his grasp and his palm throbbed with freshly drawn blood; "That's it, Skywalker!" he snapped, clutching his wounded hand with the other, "Fall further down the slippery slope! You cannot escape it." Turning his head in the direction of the crate, he sent it flying back to the Padawan with a mere nod of his chin; Anakin took it in his chest, and was knocked with a tremendous thump onto his back, his skull cracking against the metal floor. He yelled, his sabre spinning away from him across the floor and his sight blurring.
Dooku approached the waylaid Padawan slowly, watching him writhe in pain on the ground. For a moment the boy seemed to lay still altogether, and Serenn, brow furrowed, stood over him, searching for a sign of life.
Anakin's eyes then suddenly tore open; "You bastard!" he growled again, throwing himself straight up from the floor into Dooku's torso, bringing the lofty separatist down onto the floor and swinging a punch into his jaw.
The Count grunted as the boy's metal fist hit his maw, before Anakin then went on to pin him down firmly, standing over him on his hands and knees. He grasped the separatist's shoulders and flung them up, then down, consequently smashing Serenn's head against the floor. The Count barked sharply again, but quickly gathered his senses, and hurled his knee up into the back of Skywalker. The boy was knocked astray, allowing Serenn to take precedence in the brawl as he wrenched himself up from the floor and straddled himself over the Padawan, reversing their prior positions.
Dooku drew his hand back, preparing to strike Anakin on the head, but Ani's anger was too powerful an opponent; "Get off me!" the young Jedi yelled, the Force rallying to him and throwing the Count off him via a huge push to his chest. Dooku gasped as he was sent flying several feet across the hangar, before skidding to a sharp halt on the metal surface.
The two warriors were overtaken by frenzy, numb to rationality and pain, determined to just be the victor.
Serenn catapulted onto his feet, "Foolish child!" he yelled, thrusting his hand out before him and gathering the most malicious powers of the Force to him; Anakin watched the Count uncertainly from his place on the floor, feeling a spittle of blood trickle from one of his nostrils… until suddenly, as thunderous rumbles filled the air around him:
"Gach!" he cried, unable to breathe, an invisible yet palpable grip tightening about his throat and hauling him up into the air. As his eyes bulged, Anakin saw a slow, hate-filled grin rise upon Serenn's countenance - the separatist was enthralled by the devastating power that he was employing.
Ani writhed in the air, feet kicking about as they dangled above the floor, his hands clawing at his throat, searching to unhinge the invisible grip that both held and suffocated him.
The Count's eyes narrowed further, his self-control lost within the deep folds of the Dark side, his mind focused on nothing but the feral instinct to kill his rival… That was until he heard a lonely voice in the heart of the darkness…
/No master/
Eyes fading, Serenn began to come back to himself.
/No, master… please don't/
Dooku blinked hard, his concentration ebbing, and he looked up into the glossy, bulging eyes of Anakin as the youth tried to breathe; the Padawan was still no match - the contest was unfair, he knew that - but, still, the boy deserved it…
/Master, NO!/
Serenn cringed, Qui-Gon's voice ringing in his ears; he drew his hands to his skull, hearing, in the background, muffled voices from across the hangar. He dropped to his knees, releasing, at the same time, both his connection to Anakin and Anakin himself.
Nubian guards were suddenly at his side, speaking, though he could not hear them, trying to haul him back onto his feet; Anakin was unconscious on the floor, also being attended to.
"Sir, what happened? What happened, sir?"
Serenn stared at the boy, eyes heavy.
"Sir? Can you hear me? Sir?"
"Do you need a physician, sir?"
"What's happened here? What's going on?"
He shrugged off their hold, "Get off me!" he snapped, rising shakily back onto his feet, and drawing his stray lightsabre back into his hand; "He attacked me… arrest him."
The soldiers all just nodded, not sure whose side he was on, but having little choice except to follow his command. His claim didn't seem too farfetched by the looks of things, as it was.
Taking Skywalker up in their hold and carting him away, the soldiers exited the hangar, whilst Dooku himself made his own slow, limping exit…
TBC…