AN: Hello again! As I mentioned before, I have the first several chapters written, so I hope to be updating quickly for now. I do want to warn you now that this is turning out to be a pretty long story, at least by my standards, longer than I originally intended, though this'll only be my second chapter. Its also taking on a life of its own, and I ended up making it much more about Charlie than I originally intended. Stick with me, though, Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship will come into play, as will Anakin and Padmé's. The rating is also there for the sake of later chapters ;). As for Anakin's fate, I don't want to give it away, but suggestions are still welcome. Again, reviews are appreciated, as is constructive criticism. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy, and May the Force Be With You.

Images: I'm a very visual person, and I've been using different images as an influence on this story. In order to share them with you, I've created a Dropmark photo album account, and the link is http (colon, slash, slash) (period) (my username) (period) (drop mark) (slash) 289967

(You'll have to remove the ALL spaces and parentheses, and replace the symbols, sorry). Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The world belongs to the genius George Lucas, with the exception of my OCs and certain made-up places and events.

CHAPTER 2

Charlie awoke in a room that was most definitely not her own. The bed was hard, the blanket was thin, and the room was artificially lit. No sunlight, no windows. She groaned, rolling over and hearing her back crack loudly in the room, empty except for her and her bed. She opened her eyes and sat up enough to notice that this was no room, but a cell. The thick, black metal bars on the door gave her that hint. She reached up, groaning again at the throbbing in her head. She couldn't remember what had happened, didn't understand why she wasn't at home. Her limbs ached and she was freezing. And she didn't know where the bloody Sith hell she was.

She sat up, giving her head time to adjust. She did a slow passover of her body, feeling for broken limbs and any cuts or bruises. She wasn't bleeding that she could tell, and she didn't feel anything broken. Still, her head ached fiercely, and she rested it in her hands in an attempt to get it to settle down. "What in Sith's hell happened to me?" she thought.

And then she gasped, the events of the night before coming back to her in a painful rush. Here brain ran in circles, tears pricking it her eyes. She felt cold dread seep into her limbs. "It must not have been a dream, but I don't understand." she thought, "How did I get here? Where is here? Who was that man?" She had so many questions, and their rampage through her brain only increased the throbbing. She clenched her fist, trying her level best to hold off tears. She felt, almost reflexively, for her crystal. With a cry of relief, she felt it sitting under her nightshirt, and she wrapped her fist around it. She reveled in the comfort it gave her.

But that train of thought quickly lead to her family. She gasped again, wondering how she'd forgotten. "Are they here?" she wondered. "Did they taken them as well?" She buried her head in her hands once again, feeling all-consuming sorrow fall over her. She gripped her crystal, her last memory of them, tightly. It's pointed end dug into her palm, calming her, centering her. The sharp point of pain in contrast to the dull throbbing of her head gave her something to hold on to. A couple a deep breaths later, and she wasn't feeling quite so hopeless anymore.

She spent what felt like the next several hours exploring what little her cell had to offer, and wondering where the man she'd met last night was. She assumed that was who captured her, but she still wanted to know how a dream could turn into reality like that. She wanted to know where she was. She wanted answers to her questions. She would be surprised if she was still on Janulik, but how the hell had she gotten here? She shook with contained emotion once again, scared for herself, for her family, for her life.

"No." a voice in her head spoke. "Fear, you must bury. Emotions, you must bury until use them, you can. Yourself, you must force to focus." Charlie's breath quickened, unsure of where the voice had come from. She saw the sense in it's words, but this was easier said then done. Centering herself once more this the help of her crystal, she took a deep breath. And not a moment too soon. Her burst marks tingled, suddenly, alerting her of something.

Suddenly, she felt the presence of the man again. Her marks had been giving her fair warning. She stood up fast, saying "You! I can feel you again! Who are you? What do you want? You can't keep me here!" But she recognized the futility in her voice. She could hear footsteps now, getting closer. She saw the bearded man again, exactly as she remembered him. He was wearing all black, down to his cloak and boots. His face looked simply evil, and he radiated malevolence. Most disconcerting, though, were his eyes. They were black as pitch, even in the light of the hallway. It looked as if he had no pupils, and that creeped Charlie out.

He seemed to glow, as if touching him would burn her skin. He stopped in front of her cell, staring into her eyes and breathing heavily. He glowered at her. She stared back, defiant, if scared. He looked as he had last night. As if he could end her life without a care. This scared her more than anything, this disregard for life. But she remember the voice's words, remember the feel of her crystal. She buried the fear, and met his stare with confidence.

"My master wishes to speak with you." The being spoke with a gravelly, dangerous sounding voice, and a stern accent. Charlie's confidence shank a little. Who was she to stand up to this man? "NO." she told herself vehemently. "Who is he to keep me here!?" she thought silently.

"Who are you?" she almost whispered, "Where am I?"

"My master wishes to speak with you." He repeated himself, and she sighed with frustration.

"Who are you?" she repeated, stronger this time. "Where am I, and what do you want with me?"

"If you do not come with me, I will not hesitate to use force." the man replied. To Charlie's eyes, it looked as if her would enjoy that. Well, she damn well wasn't about to give him that pleasure.

"Fine." she replied flippantly, but with an undercurrent of frustration. Was it her imagination, or did he look slightly disappointed. Not one to turn down a small victory, Charlie smiled to herself.

He unlocked her cell door and took her roughly by the arm. It appeared she'd made him angry. He half-walked, half-dragged her down the dark hall, through a maze of corridors, and into the cavernous room that they'd first met in. She flinched each time they took a step, her head throbbing in time. The man wasn't being gentle. She saw the same light she had last night, and as they walked towards it, she watched it grow brighter. Their footsteps echoed off the walls, well, his footsteps accompanied by the sound of her dragging feet. She realized belatedly that she might want to take advantage of an escape opportunity, and tried to memorize the way they'd come, but it was no use. Her head was having none of it.

Finally, the man stopped in front of a large black double door. He spoke, this time with something she could only label as a slight deference. "Master, I have arrived with the girl." The doors slid open slowly with a hiss, and the pair walked through them. Charlie gasped, again. The room was a large half-circle. The entire curved wall was a window, confirming her suspicions that she was no longer on Janulik. The landscape was as foreign to her as every other planet in the galaxy. However, it was a beautiful site to see. She stood frozen where the man had deposited her. She was another figure, or rather felt in her mind his presence, sitting in the throne like chair, raised on a dais.

From what she could see, the building itself protruded up from a sinkhole deep in the ground. The view out the window afforded her a look of the other sinkholes that she guessed were characteristic of this planet. The window was a few stories above the lip of the hole, and so the building must be unimaginably high. The tower was cylindrical, based on the shape of the room. What disappointed her most, though, was the lack of civilization. From her vantage point, the tower seemed to be the only building for as far as she could see. She supposed that an escape or a rescue was far fetched, but she'd still hoped.

The man stood next to the chair, which turned slowly to face her. Charlie felt the slow creep of a repulsed expression across her face. When he was fully turned, she beheld him. The being was cloaked in black. His hood obscured his face, but just like the other man, he exuded evil. He was wearing trousers and boots, crossed at the knee. She saw two wrinkly white hands resting on the arms of the chair. The being seemed relaxed. Charlie stared at the area in which his face was supposed to be, challenging him to speak.

Finally, he did. "Welcome, my child, to Utapau." His voice sent shivers down her spine. It was like nails on a chalkboard. She clenched her fists, willing her face not to give away what she felt.

"Why am I here? Who are you, and what do you want with me!?" She demanded of him, allowing the anger to seep into her voice. She had asked that too many times since she arrived. She wanted answers!

The man, for his voice revealed him as male, was still. "I am Darth Sidious. He is Darth Tyranus. Welcome to your new home."

Charlie gaped at the man, completely thrown by his insinuations. "What in seven hells do you mean, my new home? This place is no home to me. How and why did you bring me here?"

The man paused before replying. "I am a Sith Lord, and Tyranus is my apprentice. You will train under me. You are powerful, child, and I wish to feed that power and train you to control it. Most Force-sensitive creatures subject to what Tyranus did to you last night would be catatonic or dead. You should be proud. Here you will stay until a full Sith you become, and then I will have you by my side as my secret weapon, and together, we will defeat the Jedi and rule the galaxy!" The man moved for the first time, forming a fist with his right hand and slamming it onto the throne's arm, as if to punctuate his sentence.

Charlie felt it like a blow, but the pain was tempered by new anger, hot and insidious, giving her the courage to reply. "What gives you the idea that I would stay? Be trained under you? With the sole purpose of becoming your weapon? No, you will take me back to my family. What gives you the right to take an innocent girl from her home!? Who do you think you are, you repugnant, conceited-"

And with a wave of his hand she was pinned against the wall. She couldn't breathe, again. The man in the chair pinned her there with an invisible effort that didn't see to affect him at all.

"You will become my apprentice. You will bow to my power. I will be your master, and I will not have insolence from you, youngling!" And with a wave of his hand, Charlie fell to a heap on the group.

"Stand." the man spoke again, and again without her will she was forced into a standing position. "Will you go peacefully?" he asked.

"No." she forced out, the word made rough by the trauma her throat had received. The man motioned to Tyranus, who stepped of the dais, and walked over to her. Charlie regarded him, hoping her fear did not show in her eyes. Without warning, the same pain that had assaulted her head the previous night did again. She screamed, unable to bear the pain. She dropped to her knees, her legs unable to support her weight any longer. Tyranus retreated much more quickly than the night before, and with him went the worst of the pain. Charlie breathed in deep once again, willing the throbbing to leave quickly.

They repeated this cycle for what felt like forever. Sidious pinning her against the wall with a flick of a finger, unable to breathe, unable to move until he released her. He would ask for her acquiescence, and she would refuse. He would motion to Tyranus, then, who would attack her mind. He never stayed too long, just long enough to agonize her. Together they attacked her, mind and body, and slowly they wore her down. It occurred to Charlie that perhaps this was not the way to go about it. It was clear that they were intent on keeping her here without killing her, and there must be some way she could talk her way out of the immediacy Sidious wanted. An idea formed in her mind. When Sidious released her from the wall for the umpteenth time, Charlie held up a hand.

"Yes, child?" Sidious spoke, a note of victory in his voice. That alone made the urge to punch him even stronger.

"Wait." Charlie took a moment to catch her breath and think through the pain. "I need..." she panted, "more information."

He regarded her. "Do you have no idea of what you are?"

Charlie shook her head.

"Didn't you ever wonder at your powers? At these marks on your arms?" With a flick of his fingers, the wrappings flew off her arms. She gasped, and grabbed at them. How was he controlling her? What was this magic?

"How do you do that? What do you mean 'Force-sensitive?'" she asked, remember what he'd said before. "The Force is a myth, and the Jedi and the Sith are character in fairytales."

Sidious paused. Was he surprised? He spoke again, a note of amusement in his voice. "Oh, how a child's naiveté never fails to surprise me. You are wrong, child, in all of your assumptions. But I do not have time to explain this, not now." His voiced dropped to a growl. "TC-14, come!" He called for what she assumed was the droid, by the name. From a door to the left that she hadn't noticed before entered a silver protocol droid.

"Yes, master?" The droid spoke with an effeminate voice, and Charlie couldn't determine a gender at all.

"The girl needs an education in her fairytales. Take her to her room and tell her what I have told you. Feed her, bathe her, and clothe her. I would educate her myself, but there is a more pressing issue that requires my attention." Sidious demanded of his droid.

"Yes master, very good master." the droid replied. "Come with me, child." It walked over the where Charlie was still kneeling on the floor. Charlie stood, hoping to maintain some sense of dignity. She brushed off her clothes, and ran a hand through her hair to pull it out of her face.

She turned and followed the droid out, not giving the Sidious or Tyranus a second glance.