First Step:

As the lift doors slid open, Anakin was still vastly amused by Obi-Wan's discomfort at suddenly finding himself attracted to Master Ti. He blushed for practically the whole ride up here, for kark's sake! Only the Duchess ever discombobulated him as badly as that.

Maybe with him having another girlfriend, he'll finally lay off teasing me about Padmè.

He sobered as his brain registered what was in front of him.

Palpatine!

At least he looks all right. Not beat up like Master Ti.

They even tied him to a comfy chair. How considerate.

Obi-Wan huffed in nearly silent amusement from the sarcastic thought that he must have projected. "Yes, wouldn't want to discomfit the Chancellor. That kind of thing tends to get one's prison sentence extended, I'm sure."

Now Anakin was the one huffing silently as they came to a stop in front of a very-glad-to-see-them Palpatine. Anakin could practically hear the older man think, 'You made it!'

"Chancellor," Obi-Wan said in a somewhat ironic sounding greeting, as if it was just a normal day at the office and there wasn't a massive space battle taking place just outside the windows.

Anakin went with something a little more appropriate to the situation. "Are you all right?"

His long-time friend only just started to smile his answer when they all heard an elevator door slide open behind them. Palpatine's expression turned grim and, facing the correct way to see the new arrival as he was, warned quietly, "Count Dooku."

They turned around to the sound of marching metal feet and Anakin saw his nemesis approach the railing of the balcony with a super battle droid on either side. This time, I will not lose. I can't afford to. Not anymore, Anakin thought with determination filling every atom of his being. He'd been bested by the Count too many times, and the fact was not something he was proud of. And the stakes were higher than ever, now that the Chancellor's life was on the line and he was going to be a father in a month or so. (He really wanted the war to be over by then. Really.)

It ate at his very soul and haunted his sleep that he could have ended the war on at least three previous occasions if he'd just been good enough, focused enough, to win against the old Sith Lord.

Today, though, today he was going to win. He'd been training his ass off with Obi-Wan and Rex during their spare time and he'd never been stronger or more connected to the Force. (Rex couldn't help him hone his lightsabre skills, but practicing with other weapons and hand-to-hand sparring had only given him a larger degree of versatility in his fighting style that he hoped Dooku wouldn't see coming.)

And having Obi-Wan at my side won't hurt anything either.

Proving that their connection was stronger now than it had been in the entirety of the last year, his Master said under his breath, "This time, we will do it together."

"I was about to say that," Anakin whispered back as he passed behind Obi-Wan and more squarely faced his opponent. His eyes narrowed as Dooku's gaze met his from across the large room. Bring it, old man.

Dooku actually smirked as if he was reading his mind too and did a forward flip down to the main level, completely belying his four plus decades of life and proving that he might be old, but he wasn't broken.

"Someone's feeling his Wheaties this afternoon," Obi-Wan thought in the most irreverent tone possible.

"Still not going to help him," Anakin thought back, a twitch of amusement almost ruining his serious expression.

Apparently Palpatine was impressed by the simple acrobatic that any Jedi youngling worth their rations could perform, because he said in a nearly panicked tone, "Get help! You're no match for him; he's a Sith Lord!"

Anakin and Obi-Wan glanced at each other in identical, 'Yeah right. Like that's gonna happen after everything we just went through to get this far' looks.

This was immediately followed by Obi-Wan turning and saying with a nearly epic level of sass, "Chancellor Palpatine, Sith Lords are our speciality."

Anakin suppressed what would have been an equally epic snort. "Well, that one is definitely debatable, but it's going to be true today, right?"

"Absolutely."

Anakin almost even believed the conviction in his Master's mental tone.

Meanwhile, Dooku had finally finished strolling over, looking somewhat annoyed that they hadn't immediately rushed over to meet him. Conceding that they should at least look somewhat concerned, the two Jedi shrugged out of their outer robes, letting the voluminous material sag to the floor as it may as the Count said nearly as cheekily as if he'd been taking lessons from Obi-Wan, "You're swords, please. We don't want to make a mess of things in front of the Chancellor."

Another glance was exchanged with the exact same subtext as before that could be summed up in three words: As. Karking. If.

"You won't get away this time, Dooku," Obi-Wan said as they walked forward to meet his unacknowledged Grandmaster. And then his lightsabre lit with a snap-hiss and he took up a half-assed dueling stance just to show how unconcerned he was.

If that's how we're playing this, all right. Anakin lit his own blue sabre and just barely raised it in a ready stance, to look even more blasé.

Dooku was not impressed by their attitudes if the disgusted look on his face was anything to go by. His red sabre sizzled to life and then suddenly they charged at him as if they'd rehearsed it a hundred times, attacking Dooku with everything they had.

The canny 'old' man met every one of their blows with lightning fast moves and swift footwork that somehow made Anakin feel like a youngling again, just like every other time he'd faced Dooku and lost over the last three years.

The exchange lasted maybe ten seconds.

Kark, Anakin snarled to himself as they paused to reassess and Dooku looked at them with glee sparkling in his yellow tinged dark eyes.

"The indulgent Master and his wayward Apprentice. How little things have changed," the Sith Lord mocked. "Still incompetent fools. I always look forward to schooling the two of you."

Echuta bastard! Anakin shifted a few steps to the side, tightening his grip on his lightsabre as he all but growled out, "My powers have doubled since the first time we met, Count. Today, it is I who will be giving the lesson."

Dooku only smirked. "Good. Twice the pride, double the fall."

Through their bond, he could feel that Obi-Wan was nearly seething at being mocked, so it wasn't much of a surprise when his Master was the first one to lunge at Dooku.

Anakin leapt after him only half a second later.

As their swords crossed again, Dooku continued the mockery of Obi-Wan, saying things like, "Your moves are clumsy, Kenobi, too predictable. Qui-Gon would be so disappointed." And Anakin could feel his Master caving in to his usually buried insecurities.

It didn't help anything when Dooku Force pushed Obi-Wan back to the point of falling on his arse.

That tears it! Dooku's going down!

Gathering up a tiny fraction of the Cosmic Force that the Father had taught him to tap into, Anakin let it fuel his moves against Dooku as they danced up the stairs to the balcony above. He saw a flicker of surprise in the Sith's eyes at the new show of power in his swings.

As they reached the balcony, Anakin was vaguely aware of Obi-Wan taking out the super battle droids on the other staircase. And that the fall had knocked Obi-Wan back into his usual calculating mode. Good, Because hot-headed Obi-Wan just doesn't work.

In his moment of distraction, Dooku swiped at his legs, which he automatically jumped back to avoid, but that was a mistake, since he ended up on the edge of a step a few down and windmilling to keep his balance.

This left him rushing to catch up again as Dooku and Obi-Wan faced off in the center of the balcony.

But he was too late.

Dooku had his Master up in the air with a Force grip on his throat. And when he tried to swing at him, Dooku kicked him back with a Force enhanced boot to the stomach that sent Anakin flying into a wall.

His breath momentarily gone, he pushed himself up onto an arm anyway. Ow, that one's gonna leave a mark.

Kark, Obi-Wan!

Dooku had just sent his Master flying into a section of the balcony further down the wall. Obi-Wan dropped to the ground in a limp heap.

Master!

And then Dooku added insult to injury by bringing that part of the balcony down on Obi-Wan.

Anakin only had time to throw a hand out and have his power slow the fall of the balcony at the last millisecond. It was hopefully enough to save Obi-Wan from being completely crushed.

The young Knight pushed himself onto his feet and gathered more Force to himself, trying not to give into his rage, as he rushed at Dooku. This time, the man wasn't prepared, still gloating over his victory over Obi-Wan, and Anakin kicked him right over the railing.

Unfortunately, Dooku's Force skills allowed him to land on his feet like a bloody tooka.

Anakin leapt over the railing in a front flip and landed like a man on a mission. Because he was.

He swung at Dooku with more and more power behind each strike, worry for Obi-Wan and anger at Dooku fueling his strength and influencing which part of the Force he was drawing from.

As their blades locked and they both braced their feet against the other's power, Dooku did his best to discombobulate Anakin the way he'd done to Obi-Wan by saying, "I sense great fear in you, Skywalker. You have hate, you have anger, but you don't use them."

The thing was, this wasn't news to Anakin in the slightest. He'd been told from day one that he had too much fear and emotions to be a proper Jedi. So, while more or less appearing to suppress his emotions for the sake of the Masters who taught him, he'd secretly honed some of those emotions into things he could use to his benefit.

Anger, for example, was something he lived with every single day. Anger for the Hutts. Anger for the Council. Anger for the war. Even anger at Obi-Wan more often than not for not seeing his struggle with practically everything he was expected to be.

What Dooku probably expected was for Anakin to be a good little Jedi and continue to suppress his emotions or toss them into the Force like they didn't matter.

But that wasn't who Anakin really was. And for once, he let his inner demons rule as he almost viciously pushed Dooku back with strike after strike of his flashing blue lightsabre.

And Force, it felt good.

Dooku kept up for a few seconds, until suddenly he didn't. For Anakin, each millisecond was lived in its entirety as he saw everything with incredibly clear vision. He even knew three moves ahead how he was going to finally defeat the Sith Lord.

Like everything was moving in slow motion, as his now alarmed opponent became unbalanced, Anakin pinned Dooku's hands down and then brought his blade up from underneath to slice off his hands at the wrist.

This sent Dooku's lightsabre flying upwards as the man looked at his stumps in utter shock. "Now you know what that feels like, and it isn't fun, is it," Anakin thought loud and clear enough that the other man should be able to hear it. Dooku fell to his knees at the same time that Anakin caught the falling lightsabre without even looking at it. He reignited the Sith blade and then crossed red and the blue laser beams around Dooku's neck. "You are beaten, old man."

Triumph thrummed through his blood in the best possible way as Dooku looked up at him with wide eyes, all hints of the gleeful yellow long gone, buried under abject fear; an emotion Anakin was surprised to sense that Dooku was even more familiar with than he was. If Dooku is the Sith Apprentice and not the Master like we assumed, maybe that makes sense. Maybe his Master isn't very nice.

"Good, Anakin, good. I knew you could do it." Anakin had almost forgotten that the Chancellor was watching. He glanced at the friend who was smiling at him in approval, basking in the praise that only the Chancellor was inclined towards giving him, but he quickly looked back at Dooku in case the Sith had any more tricks up his… sleeves. Stars, too bad Obi-Wan wasn't awake to hear that terrible pun.

"Kill him."

What?

Dooku had the same thought, because they both looked at the Chancellor like they'd just been ordered to surrender the war.

Palpatine only smiled like this was the best idea he'd had in a long time and repeated, "Kill him now."

While Dooku looked outright bewildered, probably expecting to be taken as a prisoner so he could be tried for his crimes, Anakin was fighting with his conscience over the order from someone he respected and trusted implicitly.

But a quick death is too easy for one such as this! He needs to suffer until the end of his hopefully long life for his crimes against the galaxy!

But surely Palpatine knows what's best?

But this isn't the Jedi way! He's defeated!

"I shouldn't," he said to Palpatine, not taking his eyes off of the Sith's.

A Sith Lord (Apprentice?) who was literally pleading with him to spare him. "Please don't. Please don't. You don't understand what this will mean!"

Anakin had a good idea that he'd have one more face to add to his nightmares, but what was one more amongst all the other's that he'd murdered over the years? Other than that, he didn't see how the death of one Sith could make anything any worse than it already was. It should help end the war sooner, at least.

With that rationale in his mind, when Palpatine sternly said, "Do it!" Anakin did.

The Count's eyes were still comically wide when his head hit the metal floor with a sickening thud a full two seconds before his body slumped down after it.

Anakin stared at the body in disbelief as all of his previous triumph suddenly just felt like a scream of misery from the Force. What have I done?

And why does this image look familiar?