Chapter 5 - Apprentices

Author's Note: Warning: Non-consensual medical experimentation

~ Tirana Sorki

Aniya Skywalker

It's been long enough since I found out I was pregnant that I can actually sense it myself now. It's a slight shift inside of me, the feel of an additional life, even if it's faint. I'm going to be a mother.

A mother at the same time as a Sith Lady and apprentice, and the two don't really fit together. I'll do anything to protect my child, no matter what happens, but that's always more complicated when I have a master, who I have to please.

But Mom did it with twins, somehow. At least I'll have Anakin to help me.

I throw a sideways glance at where my brother stands near Maul. This is going to be our first mission with him. We've seen him numerous times while training the Inquisitors, but since we're the Sith apprentices, and he's the Grand Inquisitor, we've never had a mission drastic enough to go on together until now.

The storm of anger and grief that surrounded Maul in his cell is still as strong as ever, even if he's not outwardly showing it – anymore than his obviously Sithlyness, that is.

"Are you... alright?" Anakin asks, almost awkwardly.

Maul spins around, fixing him with a fierce glare.

"Hey, he was just asking," I cut in, stepping forwards.

His glare lands on me instead, but I don't back down. "That is irrelevant. Perhaps in the time we have, we can do something of actual value. You can show me your skills."

Actual value?

Because apparently asking if he's alright is that offensive? Fine. Serious cultural misunderstandings, apparently...

"If you want," Anakin offers. It's not as if it would hurt.

"Which of you is more skilled?" Maul asks, once we're somewhere we can spar without the risk of destroying our surroundings.

"Anakin is," I throw back, "So maybe you should start against me, so you don't embarrass yourself."

He gives me a flat look, drawing his blade. Apparently, he doesn't buy it. Fine, I'll show him. I can guarantee we're more skilled, and I'm not being arrogant when I say that. I'm just good at k knowing what I'm good at.

I ignite my blade in turn, ever aware of the sad humming of my crystal. It fits, though, with who I am. Anakin stands back to watch, as we circle each other slowly. Maul makes the first move, lunging at me and our blades clash.

The duel is fast, our blades moving in a blinding blur of red, though I hold back just the slightest bit to make sure I don't accidentally injure him. I can't tell if he's doing likewise or not, but he definitely has the advantage of having more endurance – a biological Zabrak thing. I'm more skilled than he is, though.

I could have beaten him already, but I'm not fighting to disarm as fast as possible. I've been itching to fight for a while anyway, so I don't mind dragging it out. It probably would've taken longer if we weren't using the Force at all, but I finally shove him back, knocking his lightsaber from his hands.

I'm expecting instant annoyance or anger to hide embarrassment on his part, but instead he seems... I don't know, proud? Or, at the very least, impressed. I can't quite make sense of what I'm feeling from him.

"Impressive," he muses. "Your skills have grown much."

"We aren't children anymore," I point out.

"No, you are not," he agrees, "It is... regrettable that I could not have trained you from the beginning." Oh no. Not another Sith obsessing over training us. Please. Plagueis, Dooku, Sidious, and now Maul, too?

"Would it truly have changed anything?" Anakin asks, "If we are not powerful enough to stop the Sith now, we would not be had we been raised Sith, either."

"Perhaps not, but we would have been accustomed to working with another," Maul replies.

"Didn't you already have one apprentice?" I ask, flatly.

Something in his expression twitches, and I immediately regret bringing up Savage. Why did I never consider how much mentioning him might... hurt? "My brother, yes," he replies, "We would have been siblings, too."

That's... not what I was expecting to hear, somehow. I knew he cared about us, but it's still different to actually hear it. I don't know why I didn't know, but I guess I never really... thought about it. I never thought about him nearly enough in human terms and emotions.

"And we... can't still be that now?" Anakin asks quietly.

Maul eyes us, something oddly intense in his gaze. "Yes," he says, "We can be."

Something tightens sharply in me at the words – I miss the rest of our family so much, but this is... something.

It still means a lot to me, hearing that from him. I've never been able to label to myself how I feel towards him, but I suppose 'brother' isn't a stretch. Just a very strange, grumpy one who didn't have a problem kidnapping us when we were little.

Not that he wasn't a slave as much as we were, then.

"Where have youbeen all this time?" Anakin asks.

"I had an Empire of my own, that Mandalore was once part of, before this happened," he replies.

"A crime one," I state, most unimpressed. "There's so much else you could've done with your skill, you know."

He scoffs. "I am not a Jedi. And there was little else I could do without catching Sidious' attention. Even when I was still his apprentice, that was all he let me do."

"... Sidious let you create it?" Anakin asks.

"He did not care what I did, so long as I did not interfere with his plans and risk exposing him to the Jedi too early."

That's good to know, though that doesn't mean I'm remotely impressed with it. I know he was hardly taught any better, but still. Maybe if we're around him, that might... change. I suppose Sith really are all very different from one another in what they do and don't believe in doing, much unlike the Jedi always spoke of them.

There's a long, almost awkward pause of silence. "Have you seen anymore of Plagueis?" he asks, with no small measure of loathing.

"Too much," I reply, flatly.

"Has he harmed you?" Maul demands.

"Not... yet," Anakin replies, quietly, "Right now, he has only been interested in studying our midi-chlorians and blood." And something else, but neither of us mention it. I don't want to think about what he said, with how used and violated even the mere recollection of it makes me feel. It's bad enough that I'm pregnant now, and I have no idea what this will mean for my child once it's born.

"Your blood?" Maul repeats, dubiously.

"I think he wanted to know if consuming it would give him our level of our power for a time," I reply.

Maul gives us a nearly incredulous look. "Did it?"

"No. He had a seizure."

He blinks, and then laughs. Not that I can't relate to the sentiment, and Anakin and I can't help but join. "He is more of a fool than I thought," Maul says, "It would have been a good opportunity to deal with him."

"We did not consider it," my brother admits.

"Unfortunate." We are very lucky if no one's overhearing our very treasonous comments here. Though I know Plagueis suspects our feelings. "Perhaps it would be worth considering that when we... deal him."

"... What do you mean?"

"Your blood is toxic to him. He would never see that coming. Neither of them would."

I have no idea what he's implying, but I don't much like the sound of it. Even if I'll admit he has a good point. I have no idea how we'll go about killing Plagueis without doing something extreme. "I think I'd prefer to keep our blood inside of us."

"Yes, of course, but perhaps he will kill himself with his experiments before we have to take any action." He still sounds amused.

"I don't think we'll be that lucky," I reply, bluntly.

"Now may not be the most ideal time to discuss this," Anakin points out, finally, Wisely, probably, because we're walking dangerous ground. "We have a mission to prepare for."

"Yes, we do," Maul agrees, sounding decidedly unhappy about that, but... Well, this is something that needs to be dealt with.

Actually going in to fight alongside Maul is beyond weird. It also means that we have to trust him to help us, at least on some level, and it's not a situation I'm used to. But at the same time, I know he cares about us, even if I can genuinely not understand why.

Somehow, it really drives home that from now on, the only people Anakin and I will be fighting alongside are other Sith. The Jedi, the organization we were raised in, are nothing but the past now. (I might never fight alongside Ahsoka or Alema or... Obi-Wan, again.) I let it fuel the Dark Side, pushing me forwards. But I also know this isn't healthy for my child, and I don't know what to do about it.

Maul is clearly even less used to working with people than we are, because no one can quite decide who should be giving orders, so we finally just let him do it.

It works in the end, at least, though. Being around him, even if we can't be around the rest of our family, is somehow better than nothing. It makes me feel a little less lonely, and maybe a little less like it's Anakin and me against... everyone, really.

And I can't quite shake from mind what Maul said about us being siblings.

**w**

Everything is... different, and the clones are no exception. Everything is different with them, and I hate seeing it. Then again, what don't I hate? Except Anakin. And... okay, there are a few things, and Artoo and Arthree have been following us everywhere constantly to offer whatever companionship they can. It's not enough though.

I couldn't be more relieved to be back with the clones though – with Rex and Appo. It's been a long while. I know something is wrong with this, though. I honestly don't really know what to do about... any of this. We have to free them. I just don't know how.

"Sir," Rex is the first to greet us, echoed by Appo a moment later.

"We wanted to see you again," Anakin offers at last.

"I wish we could've gone with you to Mandalore," I can't help adding, because really, it's true. Then, we'd have been away, and the rest would never have happened.

"We heard you sided with the Empire when... Order 66 came through," Rex replies, "What happened?" It's not an accusation. Why do I want to act like it is? He's just asking, but I can still see an underlying note of... something. He doesn't believe in this. I don't blame him. (I'm not sure I do, either.)

"The Council tried to assassinate the Chancellor," I answer, letting the numbness I feel every time I think about that night cover my real emotions about it. I'm not even fully certain what those are. "We stepped in to stop them. They were planning to overthrow him and take control of the Republic."

"That's what we heard," Appo adds.

"Do you... believe that?" Rex inquires finally.

I can't look at them. Any of them. "I wish I could say no. But I saw it."

"They were," Anakin answers, "But I can't say we agree with everything that happened after."

A sense of heaviness settles over us. I don't blame Rex for his doubts. "Either way, what was done to you was wrong," I add. "If you're going to stay, you should at least have a choice." How much does he know about the inhibitor chips Fives told us about? I really don't know. Some, I hope. I don't know if it's safe to tell him, but he deserves to know exactly what was done to him and his brothers. He deserves to know that this wasn't their choice.

"You're my General," he replies, "I would, even if I didn't believe in it." He's good at keeping his face blank. Anakin and I are careful to do the same. Inside, I can sense his doubts. I think he knows we question it just as much.

"Thank you," Anakin tells him, gratefully, "Truly. I only wish it never came to this."

"I'm surprised we didn't see it a long time ago," Appo cuts in, his voice laced with the bitterness I often feel when I think of the Council.

"We should have," I agree. "It's not like these were the first signs."

"Regretting our choices won't change the life we're living," Rex points out bluntly.

I wish I could accept that. I wish I could stop... wishing, regretting. Because most of all, I wish we'd chosen differently, even if there was no other option left. If... if Obi-Wan wasn't as angry at us as he was, maybe I'd be able to understand, to accept that this wasn't all my choice. But he was, and we did. In the end, it was my own fear that nearly made our visions happen. Because at the duel on Mustafar, I could easily see how Obi-Wan could have hurt either of us.

"No, it won't," Anakin agrees quietly.

"Do you really believe in this?" Rex inquires at last, uncertainly. I hate how everything is so uncertain between us all now. It's true about everything though.

"This is what we fought for," Appo answers for us, before we have to try finding an honest answer to that question.

"Yes, it is," Anakin concurs, "At least like this, we have a sure way to guarantee peace, even if... even if I don't like the means it's done by, sometimes."

I can feel Rex eyeing us. We're giving him all the answers he needs, and I really don't know if that's better or worse. I can't leave his questions unanswered, though, which reminds me of something I've been thinking about for a while. We heard from Maul that Ahsoka and Alema came to Coruscant to defeat Sidious, and I have no doubt that they'll eventually try to return.

If not for Sidious, then I'm sure they will for us, and we need them to stay away.

**w**

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Anakin asks me again.

"No." I'm not exactly snapping, but it still feels like I am. I want to, though – none of this is his fault, really, but I can't help how hostile I'm feeling towards everyone. After the Council betraying us, after losing everyone, after learning who Palpatine really is, and especially after Plagueis, I can't find any semblance of calm. To be fair, I haven't really been trying. That's not what Sith do.

"I don't want to hurt him even more," Anakin sighs, "But I don't know what else to do. If Ahsoka and Alema come back, they'll be walking into this, and they'll be captured by Plagueis." Honestly? I'd rather them not be here than to confront whatever he could have in store for them. I can only imagine what he would do to them.

"It's the only thing we can do."

"But asking Rex to leave?"

"I'm not sure how much he believes in the Empire, anyway."

"I don't know if he can refuse it if we give him a direct order like that," Anakin argues, "We know how the rest of them are acting. Rex might not have had a reason to get... activated like the rest, but I don't know how much is in his own control, even now. And if he is, there is also the possibility that he might unwillingly turn us in."

I bite my lip. Hard. He has a point, and I'm not sure if we can explain this away to Sidious. Memories of lightning coursing through my body flash through my mind and I fiercely shove it away. Right now, like it or not, what we are, plain and simple, is his. We can never be anything else, because he'll never allow us to be anything else. The only thing I can be grateful for is that Sidious isn't trying to take us apart the way Plagueis is. At least Sidious... respects that. "I don't know what to do, then. We have to let them know."

"If we give them a direct order not to come, knowing Ahsoka, that's when she will show up."

"I just feel like we have to try."

"Aniya," he interrupts, touching my shoulder, "The more we try, the worse it gets. It always has."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" I yell. "We can't stop trying! It's all we can do. That's all we've ever had."

He flinches. Sharply. I have to pull back, guilt suddenly drowning me again, but I can't... I can't help what I am anymore. We'd do anything for each other, but in the end, I guess that's what destroyed us. I guess it's what will continue to do so. I can't change what I am. We were made to be monsters. Nothing we can do can change what we are at heart. (I can hear Qui-Gon's voice in my mind, reverberating with a gentle "People aren't their worst deeds, nor the worst things that have been done to them, Ani", and I would have believed him once, but now I know better. Now, I know I'm both of those.)

"I don't know." He sounds so lost, so broken, that it scares me. I can't understand how he could have become this way. I don't know how I didn't see it happening. I don't know how I let it happen.

"I'm sorry," I mumble awkwardly – it's the first time, really, that I've had a reason to apologize to him, and I'm not sure what that says about what I'm becoming. I couldn't help mentioning that, but I shouldn't have. Our lives were built on that, and on Tatooine, not trying was something worse than death. It was death. Not the death that is freedom, but the living death that's so much worse – that's what Plagueis wants with us. It's what we've seen him do to others, too.

"This isn't your fault. I'm just... afraid of where this will take us."

"I'm not going to become what Plagueis wants us to be."

"We won't," Anakin assures quietly. "I won't let it." If only it were that simple.

**w**

Anakin Skywalker

Now that Aniya's further along in her pregnancy, she's not going on missions quite as much as she was before. It's bad enough that the environment she's in is so... stressful. The least she can do is try to rest when she has the chance. Not as if that's very common, though. Between missions by Sidious and being around Plagueis, it's very, very hard. If the rest of our family were here, I think it'd be easier, but since they're not, we have to work it out alone.

"When you are finished, Plagueis wants to see you," Sidious tells me, when I go to speak with about the details of my next mission. I always prefer it when Aniya is with me, but it's more important that she stay here and rest, if she can.

My stomach promptly drops to my boots, maybe lower. Not again.

So much for either of us getting the chance to... anything, really.

"I do hope he has not been too hard on you." I can't tell if the concern in his voice is feigned or not. It's hard to tell if there's something genuine about it, if this is just a test of some kind – to see if we're embracing our hatred the way he instructed us to – or if it's a way of... trying to get information about something.

I swallow hard. "No, Master."

I force myself to stay still when he reaches for me, laying a hand on my shoulder. I never minded when he touched us in the past, even if I was never entirely comfortable with it though I couldn't explain why. But now, I can never quite shake the memory of the lightning coursing through me, or the heat of his lightsaber against my neck. And I never know when it could happen again.

"I am well aware of what he can do. And you have no need to lie to me."

I gulp. He doesn't sound irritated, but well... I don't care to test it.

But still it makes me wonder, suddenly, if he knows what it's like to – to be experimented on. If he knows what it's like to feel like a thing the way we always do when Plagueis is experimenting on us. I try to shake the disturbing thought from my mind as quickly as it comes.

The thought of someone seriously hurting Sidious is just... I don't even know. Too unthinkable. But I know he was a Sith apprentice once, and I know Plagueis would not have been a pleasant master. I've never truly wondered this much what made Sidious the way he is now. Not that I could ever ask. It would likely only earn a very violent response, especially if it was something bad.

"I..." I look down, hand clenching. "It doesn't... matter," I manage finally. "We can still –"

"Function?" he interrupts. "Yes, but that is not what I'm asking."

"It gives me power, like you said."

"Yes," he agrees, "But I know you are... uncomfortable with what he wants."

Then don't send me to him again,I want to say, but I don't. I already know he won't agree to that. Maybe he can't, but... "Yes," I admit.

"For now, we must give him what he desires. But not forever." Is he planning something, actively?

"How long?" I can't help but ask.

"For now, we must ensure the stability of the Empire. And you are not yet powerful enough. We cannot act until it is unexpected."

I suppose he's right, because stability the galaxy is more important, but... It would be far easier if I didn't have to deal with this at the same time. Not that mentioning it would change anything.

"And remember, Lord Vader," he adds. His grip feels possessive suddenly, and I might have liked it once, but now... "Whatever he says, you are no more his than Viola is. You are mine."

I swallow hard, breathing a quiet, "yes, master', before shuffling from the room.

**w**

Fear is twisting inside me, deep and gnawing, but there's nothing else we can do. Sidious already made that obvious. I know he doesn't like this either, but he won't step in and risk himself to stop it. I'm angry at him for that, too, but being angry won't change anything. It won't make him help us. He's a Sith, anyway. I should know better than to even want him to help.

"This will be a lengthier procedure than most," Plagueis says. My alarm only grows when he takes me to an area of the lab I haven't seen before. Aniya is shadowing me, refusing to be anywhere else. We stick right beside each other, no matter what the Sith says about it, even if it's obvious how he doesn't like it. "You must be fully functional if I am to use you for this purpose."

I don't want to know what he means by that. Not that it matters, because I'll be finding out momentarily anyway. Being around him is bad enough. Being trapped, unable to move in front of him, is much worse, not that I could pull away, anyway. But I am now, restrained to a medtable, and I already do not want to know why.

"Lady Viola," Plagueis orders, his voice sending a shiver down my spine. Everything about him feels wrong. "Remove his prosthetic. He won't need it anymore."

My eyes narrow at him. "What are you doing to me?" I try letting my fear turn to anger – really, being angry is easy, but not being scared is impossible even if I try not to be. I can't hide it the way I could when I was a Jedi. Not anymore.

Aniya doesn't move, glaring at him, awaiting an answer.

"Do it," he orders sharply, "I should think you to be more grateful."

"Grateful," I repeat, "For what?"

The way his yellow eyes bore into me makes me regret asking.

Aniya shuffles forwards, pulling the clasps off the glove covering my prosthetic. She touches me lightly with the Force, and I return it, latching onto her presence to keep me grounded, to let the rest of the world fade away, haze over, retreating to the strength and warmth of our bond.

I feel numb as she pulls it off, revealing the gold mechanism beneath. Stay numb, I try reminding myself. I need to keep it like I'm not here. Like... just empty. It's insane how, for a fleeting moment, I wish Sidious was here, because even if I don't trust him, I know him, and I know he... cares about me in his own twisted way.

To Plagueis, I'm just his experiment. Just like... when he made me in the first place. That knowledge makes my skin crawl.

He moves closer, touching my arm, the skin right above where it's attached to the prosthetic. The Force around him is different, wrong, and it feels dirty. It makes me want to claw my skin off – though then again, I've felt like that since Mustafar when I realized what I really am. The skin of my arm there is scarred, I know, from lighting, both Dooku's and Sidious'.

I feel Plagueis prodding at me with the Force, feel the way it's twisting around me almost unnaturally. Had I been asked about this, if anyone else were doing it, I might have considered. But now? I just want to be left how I am. I never regretted being part mechanical, really. I never had a problem with droids. It was only a problem when Jedi looked down on me for it, when... but all in all, it'd helped me a lot. Metal is stronger than flesh. It helped me during the war.

"I'll have to detach his prosthetic first," Aniya interrupts. She's uncomfortable, I can feel it.

There's nothing like the feeling of belonging to someone, and not in the way of family. This isn't my choice. I don't want this. It would be different, I think bitterly, if we were actually prisoners here. It would be better, because now, it feels like we're doing this by choice. We're not. We're captives, really, just not in name.

"Very well," he replies. Already, from how he's drawing the Force in through me, I can feel an odd tingling in my arm. It's radiating up and down, and it's rapidly turning into a dull ache.

I can only be grateful Aniya's the one who actually takes off my prosthetic. I hate how vulnerable it makes me feel to have it off. I never take it off in front of anyone unless I trust them.

Plagueis' Force presence is pressed against mine now, about as wrapped around it as it could be when mine is far brighter. I can feel him channeling the Force through me, focusing on the end of my limb.

I don't know why I didn't expect it to hurt as much as it does. He has to regrow it, and that's going to be a painfully slow process, and especially considering how he has to regrow the nerves there, it's going to hurt.

It feels like it's burning more than anything, as it progresses, and I latch onto Aniya's presence – just trying to phase out, so I don't have to feel all of it.

I've had to do this before, when I've been captured by the Separatists. But this is different. It's constant, far more acute.

It's burning, and everything feels hazed over even if Aniya's presence is tightly pressed against mine. It's one of those things that hurts too much to scream. I feel someone lightly touching my forehead, and I'm not too out-of-it to know that it's my sister. Of course, it is. No one else here would do it. Certainly not Plagueis. Sidious probably would, but that's different. I could never find comfort in his presence, anyway.

"He's gone now," she says softly, hands smoothing lightly over my forehead. Her hands feel cold, or maybe it's just that I'm warmer than usual right now, I don't know. All I do know for certain is that everything hurts, and it feels so wrong in a way I can't even understand, though my sister's presence is soothing. Calming, somehow, despite the circumstances.

I blink up at her, taking a few moments for the haze to somewhat fade from my mind when I realize she's... crying?

"What?" I ask, voice sounding fainter than I thought it would even to me. "Are you alright?"

"He was hurting you," she replies shakily. "He said you kept resisting him."

What does that even mean?

"That when he comes back, I'll have to keep you under to make it easier."

"Isn't that good?" I think my brain isn't working properly right now, because for some inexplicable reason, I feel like that's a stupid question. I'm not sure why.

Aniya huffs. "Yes, it is." Her hand moves down to take mine, the one I can still feel with, and for a few long moments, we just... sit there. Not as if there's anything else we can do.

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