Siri still hadn't gotten over her amusement at the entire situation and Dooku's conclusions, even as she had Anakin say his line again.

"No," she shook her head, "you need to really feel it. Righteous anger here. I know you can do that."

She couldn't see the deadpan expression he shot her, but she certainly felt it, and that caused her to stifle another giggle.

"And how exactly are you going to play this off?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Shock and anger, much like you, probably some worry… but if you don't feel it, Dooku won't sense it and he won't believe it."

Anakin's sat there for several seconds, studying her through that blank mask of his before finally nodding. "Very well."

He delivered his line.

Siri smiled. "Now that's more like it. Again!"

xXx

Anakin practically barged into the diner, striding up to Dooku's table, Siri wringing her hands behind him.

"What do you mean, he's alive?!" he practically hissed – almost shouted.

Dooku just looked up, a little smug. It was far too familiar of an expression on him and it sent shivers down Anakin's spine. This wasn't the Dooku from his memories – likely could never be, now – but he was too close for comfort.

"Ah, Mr. Lars. Please, have a seat. Your… assistant's food has already come," he gestured to the table and all of the dishes currently on it.

"She'll get it to go," Anakin said as he sat across from Dooku.

"I want to know too," she protested, sounding offended. "This isn't something you can just cut me out of, Lars."

"I'm the one writing your paycheck," he responded coldly, trying to channel his inner Vader without actually allowing it to drag him down. It was a… fine line to walk.

"He saved my life too," she returned angrily.

Anakin paused, as if thinking for a moment before turning slowly – hopefully it came off as hesitant – to Dooku.

"How did he survive?"

Dooku just shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn't know. I know precious little about the boy, except that he is now studying in the Jedi Temple. He was taken as an initiate."

Anakin paused again, as if blinking or processing. "He would have had to be… at least nine if…" he faded off. They hadn't really had time to come up with an actual story, so he just avoided it as Siri had suggested. Too bad they'd only had a few minutes to practice this… and he was glad they'd even taken the time to go over potentials and craft reactions at all. Still, Siri was better at this and he couldn't help but be a little jealous.

He just had to be good enough, though.

"That's too old, isn't it?" Siri asked, sounding surprised herself. Then she looked at Anakin accusingly. "Or is my information incorrect?"

Dooku chuckled a little. "Oh, no. It's correct. He was… an exception, to my understanding." Then he glanced at Anakin. "Had you been planning on training him?"

The gleam in the man's eyes had Anakin bristling.

"Or had you already started training, I wonder?" Dooku went on. "Although, from what I understand, he was a slave. Why did you not simply take him?"

Anakin swallowed. This was getting into unfamiliar territory very quickly. "I… had my reasons," he finally said, hoping that was good enough. He felt a ping of reassurance from Siri and that helped. More than he would like to admit.

Dooku snorted. "I'm sure you did. Well, either way, I thought you'd want to know."

Anakin frowned and crossed his arms. "Why?" he asked.

Before the Count could answer, a server came up to them. "Is… there a problem here?" she asked.

Looking around, Anakin realized several people were watching them suspiciously. Thankfully, he and Siri had turned their jammers on before coming into the diner and they were still far enough away from the other guests that someone overhearing them would be unlikely (Dooku may very well have paid for that, and if he had, Anakin approved). Still…

"I'm fine," Siri finally said firmly. "We all are."

The waitress glanced at the other two at the table and received two nods before she hesitantly backed down.

"If you're sure…" she said slowly.

"We are," Siri replied. "May I get a chair? I don't like sitting next to people if I can help it." She gestured to the booth.

The server still looked hesitant, but nodded and turned to walk away. Siri remained standing, but gave her attention back to the Count.

"He had a valid question," she said sternly. "Why tell us about… him?"

Dooku's smug smirk returned. "Two reasons. First, to draw you out, Lars."

Anakin didn't respond, but he did clench his fists.

"Second… a certain person is interested in him. Apparently, the boy is rather strong. It explains why he was taken into the temple at such an old age, I suppose." Although Dooku didn't look happy about that… actually seemed quite bitter. About Anakin in general? Or about the Temple breaking rules? Didn't he want the temple to break rules? Or change them?

Then again… that could be the dark side working on him. One thing Anakin remembered from the Clone Wars was how calm and together Dooku had seemed. At a glance, few would think the man had changed at all. The same applied now, except Anakin could sense an underlying storm. It had been something he could sense with the Dooku he remembered as well. Only now could he recognize how strong the man's mask was to hide as much as it did.

The server came back with Siri's chair and she took it with a smile and a nod before sitting at the edge of the table. He could understand why she would want that. She wouldn't want Anakin to be trapped, but she certainly wouldn't want to sit next to Dooku. She'd definitely reached a good solution.

Thankfully, the interruption broke the heavy silence.

"Then the solution is simple," Anakin finally said once the server had left, making sure to sound as firm as he could. "Zora said you have something for me?"

Dooku smiled and set the data disk on the table. "I think you'll find a good deal on there."

Anakin stared at the disk for a couple of seconds. Such a small thing that held such large implications. After a long moment, he reached out with the Force and felt nothing sinister from the disk. Carefully, he reached out with his mechanical hand and took it, then hid it away under his tunic. He'd check it for trackers and booby-traps later.

The Count stared very neutrally at Anakin for several seconds. "Don't let this go to waste," he finally said, then (much to both Anakin and Siri's surprise) went to get out of the booth.

"Dooku," Anakin said before he stood. The Count paused and the booth fell into an awkward silence as Anakin tried to think of what he wanted to say. He had a billion questions. How had the former Jedi resisted so long? Why did he still want to bring down the Sith? Why was he there, still working against Sidious?

Was it worth it…? His Falling. His joining a group he'd actively worked to destroy. Had this been how Dooku had felt in the previous timeline or had Anakin's arguments helped at all?

But there was too much context there, and he did not have the time or inclination to explain.

So he asked a question every Sith would understand.

"Who… did you kill?" he asked.

The man stiffened, looking straight ahead, not focusing on either Anakin or Siri. It took him almost an entire minute to answer.

"He captured one of my former padawans," he finally said, voice low, not looking at the other two. "She was insane – driven mad by the dark side, just as you said. What she'd done… her fate was not undeserved. It was likely a mercy as much as anything… and yet…"

It was still murder.

Then Dooku finally looked back at him, and for a moment his face seemed so utterly heartbroken that Anakin almost wanted to cry.

"I believe it is only fair I ask you the same thing."

Anakin felt his breath catch in his throat and he instantly regretted asking… because Dooku was right. Turn about is only fair play. He did not want to think back on it… did not want to speak of it at all… and yet, he'd painted himself into this corner. He would have to paint himself out of it.

He looked away. "My whole family, more or less. Men, women, children…"

Master Skywalker! There are too many of them! What are we going to do?!

He felt Siri kick him lightly under the table and looked over to see her own sad but accepting expression. He smiled at her, sending his appreciation through the bond. Then he looked back to see Dooku watching him, face unreadable.

"Sith truly are a sorry lot," the old man commented quietly.

Anakin nodded in mirthless agreement.

Another couple of awkward moments of silence before Dooku spoke again, turning his whole body to more comfortably face Anakin, frowning in puzzlement.

"My name, on the boards we message to set up meetings– Tyra. You knew, didn't you? What he would name me."

Anakin… hadn't realized something like that would come back to bite him. He probably should have. So many things in this life did.

Finally, he nodded.

Dooku snorted. "That, more than anything else you have said, sells your story to me."

Anakin blinked before he realized Dooku must think he knew because he'd heard Sidious speak about it. To be fair, he had… but…

The older man stood beside the table and made to walk away but Anakin stopped him one last time.

"What will you do now?" he asked.

Dooku put a hand in his pocket, looked as if he were clutching something. "Now I disappear, as I said before. I'll find an uninhabited planet somewhere and strand myself once I have all my affairs in order. I… don't know how much longer I can hold on. You sense it, don't you? That I am hanging on by a thread – grasping for my previous sense of self… just as you said I would."

Anakin felt a lump in his throat and wasn't entirely sure why.

"You… are truly a good man," he finally heard himself say. "Far better than I gave you credit for."

Dooku just snorted. "No, I'm not. Don't look for me. Unlike you, I don't think I can go back."

Anakin disagreed… but he could also sense that Dooku wasn't open to that disagreement. To push him now would just push him down the dark path farther and harder. So he watched the man go, unsure of what to really think. Siri did as well.

He walked out the door, leaving them there.

Eventually, the older Jedi finally turned back to the Initiate in disguise.

"What now?" she asked.

He sighed. "First, we find someone who can take this food." He paused and glanced wryly at her. "Unless you really want to eat it…"

She chuckled dryly. "No. After that… I'm not hungry."

"Agreed," he muttered.

They asked the waitress for a to-go box, gave her the credit chips and a very generous tip before leaving with their box of food. It wasn't difficult to find a homeless child to give said food to before they returned to the motel room to take off their outfits and double check that Dooku had given them the information and hadn't put a tracker on the system. He had, but one easily found and taken care of. Anakin double checked for others, but found nothing. Siri then checked and found nothing.

That… actually worried both of them.

So they set up a new holomail account and signed up to a secure (Anakin made sure of it) data storage site before copying all the information to there. Siri would go over it more thoroughly later. She also sliced into the motel security and wiped all traces of them from the motel recordings before setting a timer for the holo-cams to be shut down at a certain time so they could sneak out.

They then copied the information to another data disk and left the destroyed blank data disk in the motel room, making sure to utterly melt it with their lightsabers and wipe anything else down for their fingerprints.

At the preset time, they left the motel room much as they'd done before (albeit, they left their speeder in a different blind spot, but the result remained the same).

Two hours later, after dropping Anakin's prosthetics off at his storage shed, they made their way back into the temple.

Yoda met them at the doorway.

Both Anakin and Siri paused at his neutral expression (and yet, his ears gave him away, drooping low). Anakin sighed and walked up to the diminutive master.

"Master Yoda," he bowed, "I owe you… an apology. I thought very little of your former Padawan initially. I was wrong. He is…" he looked out over the skyline of Coruscant. "… far stronger than I gave him credit for."

Yoda didn't answer. Instead he just nodded his head and turned to go inside. The other two followed.

"Write a report for me, you should. Go over it later, we will. Now, want to know, you will. News, we have, of Obi-wan's return. Coming into the atmosphere now, he is."

Both Anakin and Siri tripped up a little at that. Then they both reached out in the Force and found Obi-wan far closer than he had been. He was injured – badly, but he was there and he was alive and he was coming back. Anakin let out a breath, feeling his body slump in relief.

"What happened?" Siri asked.

Yoda didn't stop walking. "Attacked they were. By whom, we will not know until landed, they have. Destroyed, their long-distance communication was."

Both Anakin and Siri nodded in acceptance. It would make sense that they would want to report face to face. Especially if their long-distance communication had been knocked out. Short range could get jumbled due to the sheer amount of traffic on Coruscant.

"Is everyone alright?" the taller blond asked worriedly.

Anakin immediately felt bad that he hadn't even thought of the other two Jedi on the ship with Obi-wan. He was even supposed to be friends with one of them.

Yoda did stop that time, as if bracing himself for their reaction. That… wasn't good.

"Report, Master Torum did. Hurt, Knight Kenobi is, but alive." He seemed to steel himself for his next words. "As for Padawan Olin… missing, he is. Likely kidnapped by their attacker."

Anakin recoiled in shock. That… how could that happen? He and Obi-wan had been attacked once on a training trip, but Anakin had been fourteen at the time. This… this made no sense! Unless…

Hindsight is not perfect, he remembered this younger Obi-wan saying. And he'd known he couldn't ever truly see or comprehend the far-reaching ripple effects of his actions… but still.

Beside him, Siri seemed to be in her own shock, wearing a lost look on her face he hadn't seen for months now. And the worst part was that she hadn't reverted.

She stared at Yoda in horror. "No," she whispered.

"Come," the Grandmaster said. "To the healer's wing, we will go. Wait for news there, you may."

And with that, he turned and began walking down the hall. After exchanging horrified glances, Anakin and Siri followed.

xXx

Obi-wan had been unconscious when brought in, having put himself in a healing trance. That left everything to a very tired Master Tolem to explain. He spoke of how he'd been going through the tracking and training he and Obi-wan had previously laid out before a ship had come with several bounty hunters – just like in Anakin's memory.

Thus had begun a game of cat and mouse. Tolem had tried to rendezvous with the other Jedi, but hadn't made it in time. Between the three Jedi, they'd managed to capture most of the bounty hunters, but it had been trying for everyone involved and they'd had to leave them on the planet as they hadn't had room in their ship. Tolem had been able to save an injured Obi-wan from falling down the side of a cliff, and the knight had been able to tell him only of Ferus' capture and Granta Omega before he had to go into the trance.

It was Anakin's worst fear confirmed.

They were allowed in to see him in the healer's wing, but he didn't stir when they entered. Soon after, Bant herself ushered them out, thanking them for coming with a melancholy expression. Master Yoda, who had accompanied them there, finished explaining what had happened before he to left them alone to attend to his own duties.

Honestly, Anakin was grateful Yoda had explained as much as he had.

Once they were alone, Siri turned to the initiate worriedly.

"Anakin, what's going on?" she asked. "I know you know something…"

The younger time-traveler sighed grimly and nodded. Then he explained everything. She'd already known about Anakin and Obi-wan being attacked by Omega in their previous life, but she hadn't really known the details. She did know that everything that had happened on Korriban with Tru, Darra, Ferus and Anakin had a lot to do with Omega, but again, she hadn't known exactly what had happened.

Anakin explained how Omega was the Force-null son of Xanatos, Qui-gon's Fallen former Padawan. For his own reasons, Omega had decided to carry on his father's revenge against Qui-gon and his latest apprentice, Obi-wan, although he'd claimed many reasons for doing so. The most prominent reason had been Xanatos' death, which he blamed Obi-wan for, despite the man having committed suicide instead of being arrested.

Omega had been more than a thorn in Anakin's side as he'd grown in the Temple the last time. More than one mission had gone wrong because of the man's involvement, up to and including Korriban.

Once Anakin had finished with the cliff notes, he sighed.

"He shouldn't be here this early," he muttered, realizing they'd wandered the Temple and ended up near Siri's quarters again. Thankfully, they hadn't run into many people. "Omega didn't make an appearance until I was fourteen in the previous timeline. Something we've done has changed his involvement – pushed him to move three years early."

Siri didn't answer, the worry on her face never leaving as she looked up to the ceiling, eyes distant.

Finally, she looked back down at her companion and nodded. "Thank you for telling me."

She didn't ask if they'd get Ferus back or what would happen to him. She knew all too well what could. Anakin also got the distinct sense of feeling trapped from her, and knew she would much prefer to be out there looking for someone she still considered her padawan. Anakin found it both refreshing and heart-breaking to see how much she still cared for Ferus.

"I… think I need some time to myself," she finally said. "We can get started on sorting and compiling Dooku's information tomorrow."

Anakin nodded, completely understanding. He couldn't give her any comfort because he honestly had no clue what would happen and he didn't want to give her false hope.

Siri opened the door to her quarters and went to walk inside, but paused in the doorway before she did.

"Anakin," she said softly, "Obi-wan sent me back with you and I promised him I'd look after you for him. I have no intention of abandoning that mission. Ever… for any reason."

She smiled at him – a thin smile hiding so much pain, but one that said she truly meant what she said. Then she disappeared inside her apartment, leaving him staring at her door as it closed.

The realization that she'd just prioritized him over Ferus hit him like a punch to the gut.

She'd prioritized him over Ferus.

True, it was because she'd promised his Obi-wan, but…

So few people had ever really prioritized him before. His mother, Padme, Luke… Girth… and now Siri…

He didn't know why he felt his eyes burn in gratitude… but he also knew something else: Siri was hurting because she had prioritized him.

She'd just proved, beyond a doubt, that he was important to her. It… was a gift. A truly wonderful gift. She probably hadn't completely realized how much it meant to him even.

And because of that… he couldn't let that stand.

An idea began to form in his mind, and he turned to make his way to the library, face set in determination.

xXx

AN: I kind of feel like the emotion in this is a bit of a roller coaster... but I also feel that that's what life is like and I'm okay with that. Hmm. Thoughts?

Thanks to Quathis and Khalthar for their help on this!

Discord for anyone who's interested:

discord. gg/2acAymzqku (w/out spaces - it isn't a terribly active/involved board, but I'm okay with that too)