Chapter 19 Wounds that Stay


LUKE POV

"Dooku…

Count Dooku…

Dooku…"

His heart was racing in his chest. The previous pain he had experienced in his dream was gone now. It was as it seemed. It hadn't been his pain in the first place. His body was pulsating with adrenaline. The force was practically screaming at him to do something.

To do something now!

He sat up abruptly in bed, breathing heavily. Sunlight shone through the crack in the curtains.

Sitting up more fully he checked the clock on the bedside dresser.

What in the world? He thought furrowing his brow. It's the day after tomorrow already! Or… eh, I mean it's… uh… I slept for a whole freakin day in a half!

"It doesn't even feel like it," he whined, "and what was with that dream?"

Grumbling he face planted back down into the wonderful haven of pillows, exhaling a deep sigh.

Remnants of the phantom pain still stayed on his chest, carving deeper and deeper in his memory.

He had so many questions.

About that place.

That old guy.

And whose red eyes those belonged to. For some reason he was sure they weren't the eyes of a Sith. And didn't belong to a Sith or dark Jedi.

Then who did they belong to?

"Dooku

Count Dooku

Dooku"

the voice from his dreams had spoken.

Squeezing his eyes shut he deeply contemplated.

Dooku. Count Dooku. Now where have I heard that before?

His heart thudded in his chest as a memory came to him.

The man whispered, "Do you work for Count Dooku?"…

In front of him, born from darkness, the black cherry Scavenger appeared, voice quiet whispered, "Cauughhht a forccce anommallyyy tthhey havve. Sssidiiouusss annd Doookku tthhey did."

Ooohhhh, Doooookuuuu.

Now I r-remember.

Didn't the… the… S-Scavengers say something important about him? Uh, come on Luke r-remember. You c-can remember what it was. He gripped his hair. Dammit, what was it. I know it was important.

Think Luke.

Think.

Think…

Perspiration formed on his brow. He calmed his panicking heart, for it was only in the past now.

"Ttthe LiMmerrgge buiilllldinnng in tthhe Worrrkkksss on Corrusssccanttt. Liiieees a mmosst powwerrrfulll forrccce annommalllyyy tthhat ssshhouullld beee ssset fffrreeee."

Force anomaly?

He sat back up abruptly, blue eyes shooting open.

"Oh yeah, now I remember," he expressed aloud to himself, " hideous Sidious and this Count Cooku Dooku person caught some force anomaly and are holding it in the Works on this planet in some place called the LiMerge building."

But, where is that though?

Is it that place I saw in my dreams? Then that would also mean that old geezer I saw is probably this Count Dooku person.

Wait a sec. was that even a dream at all!

"Oh, maybe it was a force vision," he voiced in realization. It reminded him of the time when he got that vision of all his friends, Leia, Han, Chewie, and c3po, and they were all in great pain somewhere in a city in the clouds. Bespin, Cloud City. But in the end though it turned out to be a trap and his friends had made it out alright without his help. He was the one who had gotten injured.

His metal hand clenched tightly around the covers at the memory.

But this isn't a trap.

He could feel it.

The force was urging him forward.

Urging him to decide.

And he made a decision all right.

Making to throw off the covers he jumped out of bed.

Or he would of successfully jumped out of bed had his feet not gotten tangled in the comforter. He face planted on a material that wasn't so soft. He hit the carpeted floor with a thud.

"Uuuuugggggghhhhhhh…"

Oowww, oww, oww, my face.

Stretching one hand onto the dresser beside the bed he grappled around for where he had placed his clothes. Feeling the material he grabbed and pulled. While pulling the clothes it knocked Sidious's lightaber off the dresser. With a clunk it hit him square in the face and then rolled to the other side of the room.

Still laying down, tangled in blankets and pillows, he rubbed his sore forehead while gripping the clothes and pulling them closer to his body.

Dammit, what a wonderful way to start off the day. I don't have time for this bantha fodder! I always knew that lightsaber hated me.

He gave the black object a heated glare.

Stupid thing.

Dragging himself out of the mess while clutching the clothes he limped to the bathroom as fast as he could and slammed the door. He had this weird sense of foreboding, and a feeling that he had to move.

He had to go.

Now!...

After relieving himself at the toilet and washing up he carefully changed the bandages, and then looking in the mirror ran his hands threw the messy bed head he had acquired. It was a serious case of bed head. It looked as if it was a bird's nest. He actually wouldn't be surprised if a couple baby birds just popped out. Running his hands over the strands repeatedly he ended up making it look at least a little bit presentable for public.

Then he quickly changed.

Grabbing the loose black pants he slipped them on.

It immediately fell off, pooling around his ankles.

Eyes twitching he yanked the pants back up and hastily looked around for a string of some sort. Spotting a bath robe hanging on a hook he snatched the black robe tie from the robe, not feeling the least bit sorry for parting the two matching articles, and tied it around his waist, effectively holding the pants up.

Next he quickly put the dark blue almost black t- shirt on. It was a little small. But at least it fit some. It wasn't big so the piece of clothing was manageable. It came to just above his belly button but now skin was visible as the bandages he used for the gashes on his back came around his abdomen and covered the area.

Then he donned the big black cloak. It fit his physique much better than the other pieces, coming down to a little lower than his feet making the material drag slightly, but not by much.

He was all ready to go.

But there was one tiny problem.

He didn't have any shoes.

Uhhh… what to do.

He had already looked all around the house and there wasn't a single pair of shoes, and his own pair had been completely soiled and drenched with… with…

Yeah, so basically he didn't have a pair of shoes.

But out of the corner of his eye he spotted the roll of white bandages…

He dashed into the kitchen.

Dark blue almost black t-shirt covered by a black cloak and a pair of loose black pants that didn't slip off this time. Bandages wrapped around each foot to about below each knee. It wasn't visible as the pants covered most of it, but that was the only quick alternative he could come up with at the moment.

His stomach growled impatiently.

He quickly rummaged around in the refrigerator, throwing various foods over his shoulder. Then his blue eyes beheld what looked to be a choco chocolaty cake with choco chocolaty frosting. His mouth started to water at the sight. Slightly Self-conscious he looked up and down and all around to make sure no was watching even though he knew he was alone in the complex. Then seeing no one he grabbed a slice and crammed it in his mouth.

mmm. That's good.

It tasted heavenly.

He also snatched a couple fruits for later in case he got hungry and shoved them along in his pocket with Sidious's lightsaber…

There was a garage in the back of the house. And in it was a speeder. He wasn't sure what type. The body of it was an ocean blue color with lighter turquoise blue wings sticking out of each side. There was another fin like turquoise protrusion sprouting from the back of the speeder just above the exhaust. In the front were two long cone like pointy extensions sticking out. But the thing that really bothered him about the speeder was that it didn't have any headlights. What idiot doesn't manufacture a speeder with headlights? He didn't recognize the red brand logo painted on the side of the vehicle at all. At least it has taillights though. A clear glass dome hatch opened for a person to get inside. The interior, dashboard, and controls were a sky blue color. The single cushiony seat was strangely enough a mauve purple. The whole speeder was pretty small and seemed not to have been used in quite a while as a fine layer of dust had coated the old sheet draped over the transport when he had discovered it.

At least it still works he conceded, looking it up and down. In a weird way it kinda looks cute.

The weird little speeder came with keys. He found them on a nearby shelf in the garage. You'd have to press a button on the key for the hatch to open and then to start the speeder you would have to insert the key in the ignition.

That's just what he did.

Firing up the speeder the engine purred appreciatively.

Is this thing alive or something? Why does it sound so happy?

The speeder was really a weird little thing.

The garage opened out onto a small gray and blue landing platform in the back of the house. He moved the speeder forward, garage door rolling shut behind him. And then firing up the vehicle, accelerated off the platform and into the sunny daylight sky dotted with sparse clouds.

Not even bothering to get messed up in the busy traffic lanes he cut past all the other transports because he was in a hurry.

It would take an real stupa not to conclude that the red apple eyed creature I saw in his dreams was the force anomaly the Scavengers were all yapping about. And it is pretty clear that this force anomaly is in trouble. Anyone would be in trouble if they got captured by Sidious and this Dooku guy.

It was a good thing this speeder had a navigational system installed in it.

Without thinking twice he typed in the Jedi Temple, Coruscant.

But about halfway through the journey he began thinking.

Should I really go to the Jedi? No, wait I actually really don't want to go to the Jedi! I know I may need help but what if they don't believe me. They probably think I'm a Sith or a dark Jedi or something. What if they kill me on the spot? Wait, now that's just stupid they wouldn't kill me right away if they believed I was a dark one of the force… or would they? I just disgraced them all and tried to kill their chancellor a while back. I even flipped them all off a couple days ago! There's no way they'll ever forget that incident! Dammit, I really know how to mess things up sometimes, but I also don't have time for this! By the time I've gone to the Jedi, got them to believe me already, and persuaded them to go to the works on some petty force vision that I had would take forever! They might think I was trying to deceive them or lead them into a trap. Come on here, I'm a complete stranger. I don't even know these guys. Maybe I should've just walked up to the temple in the beginning when I first got here and asked entrance or requested to speak to Master Yoda. How could I be so stupid? You stupid prideful piece of poodoo! Afraid of facing the all-powerful and renowned Jedi. Now look where that's got me! But if I had gone to the temple and turned myself in to them in the first place I would've never saved Zoë and all the children…

Why is this so confusing?!

Sighing, he erased the destination for the Jedi temple he had typed in the speeder's navigational system and instead typed in LiMerge building, the Works, Coruscant.

To Sith hell with it all! As I said I don't have time for all this crap. If I go to the Jedi they will probably take too damn long to agree with me and get to the force anomaly in time. Time is not something that I have available at the moment.

The force screamed in urgency. Urging him forward.

I can handle this myself.

The speeder turned from the direction of the Jedi temple that had just appeared in the distance and flew the opposite way…

A small blue speeder sped into the area. Gliding over heaps of rusted metal and pollution.

Inside it he controlled the vehicle with expertise. As for him it was pretty easy to get the hang of steering the little thing.

Smog filled the air and billowed up in dark puffy clouds, gathering in the sky and blocking out the clean light of the Coruscant sunset. The sun's warped golden rays cast a blood red horizon and the whole world seemed to be tinted a crimson and bronzes of many brilliant shades of orange. It was a never ending industrial district that sprouted out big black gasps of smoke into the atmosphere out of thick pipes.

Then it came into view, a structure.

Just exactly like the one in my dreams.

Just like the time with the city in the clouds.

A building standing tall above all others and dwarfing the barren, seemingly empty expanse of iron landscape filled with warehouses and factories. It stood proud and tall over the destruction and smog. The pinnacle of the element. Representing what once was and what once were, but now abandoned, or so it seemed. The building stood, skinny and slender in build. Cylindrical with fin like protrusions coming out of its side to make up part of the base. The whole structure sat heavily upon the ground. Behind it, were several other buildings, almost as tall, but not as grand as the main masterpiece. Even despite being beaten up, broken, and partially destroyed in some areas along its vertical sides it however stayed intact. The building was a pale rusted light brown color with highlights of a deeper faded copper red.

A small blue speeder slinked toward the tall structure.

While the setting sun cast down long ugly shadows.