Where Dooku Doesn't Die

It was a farce; a base comedy for peasants that he was forced to take part in. His theatrical role needed this brief comedic interlude before he could rise to his zenith, a moment for the audience to laugh before the final act could begin, and his true role could shine. And so, Dooku allowed the farce, willingly participating in another duel with Kenobi and Skywalker. As he stood over them, looking at his fellow comedians, he studied them.

Kenobi was the pride of the Jedi, exuding their every principal and moral ethic. Better still, he had culture. He had breeding that he carried with an inborn grace that he seemed utterly unaware of. It attracted Dooku's aristocratic sense of esoteric beauty that the Jedi used to hold. It was that very quality that the Jedi had beaten and broken down in their judgmental parochial vision. Code indeed! The Code had become nothing more than rhetoric to justify taking only those that would follow the Council's edicts to the letter without question; mindless beings.

Like clones.

Like droids.

It was utterly intolerable. That Kenobi rose above that made him remarkable. It was a shame that Sidious's interests lay in other people.

Skywalker was the opposite of Kenobi in every way. Passionate to calm. Bold to cautious. Clever to pragmatic. His record on the field was unquestionable. The boy was unorthodox to the extreme; looking at his presence in the Force was like watching a storm. Dooku wondered how the Council ever put up with him. Even now he was a torrent of emotions, roiling in currents and channels around him. The Count almost wondered what the boy was thinking at this moment, what thoughts the child was having staring up to the landing where he looked down on them. The utter lack of self-control was disgusting. Worse than a youngling. Dooku was reminded of the rabble that bickered in the Senate, self-serving and impulsive.

He failed to see what Sidious saw in him.

It added a layer to the farce he was about to take part in.

The two shared a brief exchange, and Dooku noted with a well-hidden chill of surprise that the two were practically sharing one mind. Somehow over the last three years the bond of Master and Padawan had grown exponentially, to a depth he could hardly fathom yet could not deny the sight of.

He glanced to his master, but Sidious was deep in the role of Palpatine and would give nothing away. Dooku considered as he flipped off the landing. A bond this deep would increase their synchronicity manifold, but it would also broadcast the pain of one to the other to the point of distraction. That thought made him sneer at the two. It was still a farce after all.

It was after the duel that he realized the joke was on him.

Disposing of Kenobi had been much more difficult then he'd initially anticipated. Three years constantly on the battlefield, constantly fighting Grievous and acolytes had improved his craft; the tight defense of Soresu was truly impenetrable even with the precise motions of his own Makashi style. This was compounded by the fact that young Skywalker was tenaciously offensive. The boy would press an attack relentlessly until Dooku threw him aside with Djem So's natural weakness to mobility, except then Kenobi would be there blocking for them both. It was uncanny how closely they worked together.

But, then, blade work wasn't everything. Dooku allowed himself to go on the defensive, long enough to concentrate his dark energies and choke Kenobi, lifting the shocked Jedi up into the air. He felt Skywalker's emotions quailing at the very sight, shocked as Dooku casually threw Kenobi aside. The man crashed magnificently and Dooku collapsed the landing on the Jedi, hoping to crush his legs. Perhaps Sidious would let him keep Kenobi as a prize.

The thought disappeared in a single sword stroke as Skywalker advanced. The boy's emotional storm had actually increased, he was a towering presence in the Force and he was only getting stronger, drawing on resources unseen. Worse, Sidious was shouting, "Let go Anakin!" Let go of what? The boy was holding on to nothing but his lightsaber as he relentlessly assaulted Dooku.

The farce stopped being funny.

It turned into a tragedy when he lost his hands, sliced off inches above his wrists.

This was not how he was supposed to lose the battle. There was no dignity in this, no honor, no class.

"Good, Anakin; very good," Sidious said smiling. That display of teeth was still there when he next said, calmly, deliberately, "Kill him."

Dooku stared at his master. He realized again, or perhaps for the first time, the utter truth:

Treachery was the way of the Sith.

At last the red mist crystallized and cleared from Anakin's vision. Dooku knelt before him unarmed - literally he realized with black humor - and the red saber was in his hand. Anakin had seen red when Obi-Wan fell and he felt his shocked pain. He realized belatedly that he was breathing hard, and he could hear voices in his head.

There was Palpatine: "Kill him."

Then there was Dooku: "Treachery was the way of the Sith."

Ahsoka, still outside fighting: "You better be all right, Master..."

Padme, miles below on Coruscant: "Please, please let Ani be alright. Bring him home in one piece."

Obi-Wan, unconscious and struggling to wake up: "Must... help..."

It was confusing. He was used to hearing extra voices in his head, it had always been like that; and by now Obi-Wan's voice was as natural as his own, and he was used to catching thoughts from Padme when she was relatively close. Palpatine was a surprise, he didn't remember doing anything to his bond with the grandfatherly old man, but if he had time to think it would be a nice idea to have all his family in his head. The shock was Dooku - why was he hearing the old codger's thoughts? Worse, why were the old man's ruminations filled with shock and a sense of betrayal?

With a start he realized this was Force empathy - the one skill he had no ability in suddenly decided now would be a good time to manifest. He forced himself to turn it off - empathy didn't exist for a monster like Dooku. Listening to his thoughts would be disgusting. It persisted.

"Anakin, what are you waiting for? Kill him!" That was Palpatine again, and Anakin realized that, at least, wasn't Force empathy; that was his mentor shouting over the cacophony going on in his head. He glanced to the elderly man, still bound in the observation chair. He looked tired, stressed, desperate and slightly angry. The war had done this to him. Dooku had done this to such a kind man!

Palpatine's plea finally registered in Anakin's ears, and disgust filled him. The poor man was so strung out that he'd fallen to this. It was Dooku's fault and the prostrate man under his blades suddenly filled Anakin's head with anger again. He pressed the blades closer to the Sith's throat.

"Look," he hissed. "Look at what you've done to him! Palpatine's a good, kind man of principal and look at what your stupid war has done to him! Look at what your war has done to Obi-Wan! To me! You created all of this!" He deserved to die! Dooku's death would end everything: no more death! No more loss! Anakin would never have to suffer another death, never have to lose someone he held close, no longer have to lose his mother! He could rip him down just like he did with the filth of the Tuskens!

The Tuskens...

The Tuskens...

His head overflowed with images: the deaths in the desert, Padme telling him he was not all powerful, Obi-Wan's face when he found out about the massacre, the meditations he did over and over and over - sometimes with Obi-Wan and less often alone - to release the darkness that had flooded him during those moments. He saw Ventress, Obi-Wan's beaten and emaciated form after his torture, the fight in that temple on the moon of Yavin, the flashbacks. He remembered how he felt when he thought he'd killed Ventress in anger again, the gut-wrenching feeling that he was a failure as a Jedi, that he still was a failure as a Jedi.

"I cannot help you with this." I cannot face this for you.

"So I did what I always do when I got angry. I channeled it... If you channel it to something constructive, anger loses its hold on you."

Anakin looked at Dooku again: his amputated arms, his old, withered, face. The Force empathy that still hadn't shut up tingled in his mind. Dooku's numb shock and sense of betrayal was starting to fade, his mind was starting to work again. The Sith was angry; angry and hurt that he had been passed over by a whelp. He was... pitiful.

"Kill him!"

He deactivated his lightsabers. "No, sir," he said slowly, his tenor voice soft. He turned to his troubled mentor. "I won't lower myself to his level; and you shouldn't either." He reached into his belt to pull out binders.

"This is a Republic order, Anakin," Palpatine pleaded, his face distraught, afraid. "Think of all the lives he's killed. He almost killed me!"

Swinging Dooku's abbreviated arms behind his cloaked back, Anakin fastened the binders at the elbows before turning again to the Chancellor. "Sir," he said gently, holding the older man in nothing but the highest regard and respect. "It is because of those lives he's taken that I won't demean them by slaughtering him. I can't... I won't turn into him."

Never again. He would make mistakes. He would backslide. He would likely struggle for the rest of his life. But he would never, never, let himself feel that sick over his actions again.

Obi-Wan's conscious stirred in his mind, struggling to wake up, before falling under again. Dooku's thoughts slowly faded away.

Anakin stood again, hoisting Dooku up before spinning him around. "Do you concede your defeat?" he asked. It was moot, he couldn't trust Dooku's word, but Anakin had to admit he would take a certain black pleasure in seeing the man admit it to him.

Surprisingly, Dooku acquiesced without missing a beat. "I admit a thorough defeat, Skywalker. I have much to say, but not here." He glanced at the Chancellor. "First I would like to see if your victory was a fluke or a result of actual skill. Let us see if you can't escape my ship." The old codger didn't quite sneer, but Anakin openly sneered back, thrilling at the idea of the challenge.

"Well, then, this will be over with really quick. Let's start with you staying right here while I 'free up' some allies."

With a flourish, Anakin ignited his lightsaber and freed Palpatine before boldly turning his back on Dooku to see to his former master. Casually, he tossed him over his shoulder, "Try not to hurt him too bad, Chancellor; that's what the public trial is for."

When Obi-Wan finally managed to pull himself back to consciousness, he found himself staring at a butt. He stared at it at first; trying to gather his wits about him, before realizing that in all likelihood he was staring at Anakin's behind. He hardly had any familiarity with his partner's gluteus maximus, but Force knew only Anakin would somehow orchestrate circumstances to precipitate such an embarrassment.

Then he realized his hand were hanging limply over his head, and when he looked up he saw the elevator shaft going down, down, down...

He quickly grabbed for purchase on Anakin and glowered at him. "Have I missed anything?"

"Oh, nothing much," Anakin replied, charming grin shining at full blast.

"Perhaps now that you have less dead weight we may consider moving faster."

Obi-Wan spun his head around to see Dooku on the other side of Anakin; his feet braced against a knot of cabling. His hands were bound behind him. Meanwhile Palpatine was also clutching Anakin, his arms wrapped around the young man's waist. He turned a full force Glare of the Exasperated to Anakin.

"You call this 'nothing'?"

If anything, Anakin's grin only brightened. "It won't be 'something' until we get Grievous."

"You can't seriously think-"

"I'm sure he'll be more than a little put out-"

"-that we can manage to get him-"

"-when he sees Dooku over here-"

"-and not put the Chancellor-"

"-unarmed and at our mercy-"

"-in further danger-"

"-and simply give up on sight."

"-when you decide to pull another stunt like this!"

The two were openly staring at each other, one put out and the other blithe, when Dooku's voice interrupted the beautiful argument they were having. "It is seeing such an excuse of repartee that I now begin to wonder how it was that you both became as successful as you have."

"You stay out of this!" they both said.

It may have proceeded further, but the gravitational fluxes that the ship had been suffering since the beginning of the assault suddenly jerked everyone in a different direction. There was a foreboding thunk from above and the two Jedi looked up in dread to realize that the elevator was now hurtling down toward them.

"Gentlemen," Dooku said with the air of an elite addressing a populace. "I shall bid you a temporary ado." For a moment his gaze lingered at Anakin, or perhaps a little lower, Obi-Wan couldn't be sure, before he added. "We will meet again."

Then his feet loosed themselves of there footings and he hurtled down the shaft.

"That poodoo-eating bantha piece of-"

"Anakin! Down!" Obi-Wan shouted, all too aware of their imminent doom if they stayed in one place. The pair jumped to the opposite end of the shaft, bracing their legs, and then launching forward through an open set of doors - just moments before the elevator plummeted past them.

Palpatine, still clutching Anakin in a death grip, his face pale and drawn, looked at the Jedi. "Is it always like this?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

Obi-Wan and Anakin looked at each other, mirth flickering back and forth along the bond.

"Yes," they said in unison.

During the dash through the halls, Anakin quickly updated Obi-Wan on what had happened through the bond, showing pictures of the duel and channeling some of his emotion. Obi-Wan was shocked at the turn of events; he had felt confident that they could take on Dooku together, but Anakin, alone, not only defeated the Sith but also - however temporarily - conquered his own anger. His friend was seething anew now with Dooku's escape, however, and was more than ready to crush some droids.

I should have killed him when I had the chance!

Obi-Wan immediately countered that thought - reshuffling Anakin's own memories of Dooku and the ultimate decision that he would never reduce himself to slaughter again and channeled them back to Anakin.

"You were right to let him live and control your anger, Anakin," he said quickly, eyes scanning for the conspicuously absent presence of droids. "Clearly the Force has something in mind with him."

"That's hardly consolation when I had him dead to rights and then he got away."

"'Got away' with severe injuries not only to his body but also to his ego. Let us see if he passes this Trial of Flesh. It may even turn into a Trial of Spirit."

"You act like the old sleamo is a Padawan."

Obi-Wan arced an eyebrow.

"... Right." Sufficiently distracted, Anakin's anger dissipated.

That was when the ray shield caught them. The three men looked at the barrier with incredulous disbelief.

"How did this happen? We're too smart for this!" Obi-Wan asked.

"More feelings, master?" Anakin asked. His tone was wry, but as Obi-Wan cast his feelings out, he could only see muddled clouds, dark and foreboding. Though Anakin was not as sensitive in the Unifying Force as he, he felt Obi-Wan's concern vicariously through the bond, making him frown. "Seriously?" he asked.

Obi-Wan's mind was hard at work, trying to piece together answers he felt were right in front of him but slipping through his grasp. "Look at what's been happening," he said, rubbing his beard. "The gravity shifts, having Dooku and then losing him, the battle outside; even that the Separatists were able to get the Chancellor in the first place. There's a larger game being played here: elusive, dark. I can't seem to put my finger on it..."

"Then, perhaps," Palpatine said with a deceptively light tone, "you could instead put a finger on how to get out of here?"

The two Jedi looked at each other. "I say patience," Anakin said.

Obi-Wan nearly fell over on principal. "You? Patience?"

"I can be patient!" he said defensively. "Artoo will come and get us."

And, as if on cue, R2-D2 came barreling around a corner with so much momentum he banged into a wall and fell to his side. Obi-Wan saw the confidently bright grin again, smug over his prediction coming true.

Then the droidekas rolled up after the little astromech droid, and Obi-Wan felt more than a little justified in saying, "I told you so."

Author's Notes: Good grief we're actually going to be bold enough to rewrite the movie. (Bangs head on keyboard) What have we gotten ourselves into?

Hopefully as the third book starts to turn further and further away from itself it all makes sense and you're nice and emotionally vested in what happens next. Here in the beginning we're going to keep elements of the third book - partly because they're great ideas but more so that you get another layer of how much these small changes are starting to build.

At least, that's the idea. As such, nothing really new here, it follows book and movie quite closely.

...Aside from the fact that Dooku still lives, that is. ^_^

Next week: The aftermath of the battle.