Inside his soundproof meditation chambers, Count Dooku of Serenno sat alone, meditating quietly. His breathing carefully and meticulously paced, the aging Sith Apprentice garnered all the hatred he could muster, scratching the mere surface of the power the dark side had to offer.

As he meditated, Dooku remembered the teachings of Master Yoda, his mind racing to the days when he was the Grandmaster's prized pupil, soon to become the greatest duelist the galaxy had ever seen.

Remember, my young Padawan, a path to the dark side, the fear of loss is.

Fear leads to anger...

Dooku focused on all the anxieties and fears that dwelt on his mind, the prospect of betrayal from all sides as well as from above, the idea of losing the Clone War, the very thing he strove to bring about for so many long and arduous years, and the thought of all his works being brought to naught.

Dooku allowed the cold fingers of death that were fear and worry to slip through the cracks of his weary soul, igniting these concepts and emotions the second they touched him. He felt much warmer in the cold that was the darkness already.

Anger leads to hate...

The frustration settled into the foundation of his very mind as Count Dooku steadied his breathing focusing on everything he had lost, everything the Jedi and the Sith had stolen from him, both of his students and his pride as a Jedi.

Ventress...

Ventress was a true loss to his cause. Despite expressing his frustration with her time after time, he could not help but see something of his former apprentice's defiant nature in her. Nonetheless, that curiosity was only defiled by her fear of abandonment and refusal to control her aggression. It was a shame to wish her dead, an even greater shame to annihilate a people as unique as hers, but he had to obey his master.

He MUST obey his master.

Qui-Gon was now one with the Force. He was always so quick to learn and grow. It was time for Dooku to move on, yet he could not. The Council foolishly turned their backs on him. They sent him to his death the moment they played the politicians. Ever the hypocrites. What other choice had they?

What choice had he?

Hate... hate leads to suffering...

Hate...

Dooku steadied his breathing, silencing the slight tremble of rage in his breathing as he centered his mind on the power of the Living Force, a power that belonged to him. If only the Jedi were not afraid of such suffering. As his master had shown him, Lord Sidious, only through suffering could one achieve true greatness, a power beyond anything the Jedi could ever hope to achieve.

Even Yoda himself.

Dooku perched one of his eyebrows up as he heard a door in front of him slide open. He heard metallic steps pace toward him. He maintained his focus, nonetheless, continuing his meditation into the dark side.

"My lord, Lord Sidious is requesting your presence," Dooku's personal T-series tactical droid monotonously reported.

Count Dooku felt himself immediately tensed up, the burning flame that was his rage and suffering suffocated by a cold prison of fear. He opened his eyes, a quick flash of yellow flashing in his irises before returning to a natural brown. He formally rose from his cushioned seat and seat toward the tactical droid.

"I will be with my master at a moment's notice," Dooku addressed calmly.

Dooku stormed past the tactical droid and walked through the stone halls of his ancient palace, the ancestral home of his family, the Counts of Serenno. As he finally approached his main office, he admired the green mosaic that lay beyond his broad curved desk. The mosaic had been gifted to his great-grandfather by the dukes of Mandalore. It was a shame that he was unable to convince Duchess Kryze to his cause, and even greater shame that Maul, the current leader of Mandalore, had escaped the prisons of Stygeon Prime.

Nonetheless, that was a matter for another time.

Dooku walked behind the desk before pressing a button, activating the holoprojector attached to the center of his desk. Steadying his breathing, Dooku knelt swiftly as an enlarged image of Lord Sidious, clad in red and black robes, flickered before him. Dooku lowered his gaze toward the pristine marble floor, careful not to provoke Sidious's ideals or feelings of superiority.

"My master..." Dooku addressed, maintaining an attitude of submission and obedience.

"Lord Tyrannus," Sidious acknowledged, a small devilish smirk flashing across his hooded face. "Have you felt the disturbance in the Force?"

"I have, my master," Darth Tyrannus, the Sith title of Count Dooku, answered calmly, reflecting on the cold waves of fear, depression, and loneliness that he felt in the Force as he was meditating earlier. "I do not suppose this disturbance is of the workings of Mother Talzin and her monster."

"Your insight serves you well, my apprentice," Sidious agreed, complimenting his training of the lesser Sith rather than the skill that Dooku already possessed as a former Jedi. "We may have an opportunity to break the Jedi."

"How can this be, my lord?"

"The apprentice of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano," Sidious replied, chuckling to himself while maintaining a professional composure, "has abandoned her precious Jedi Order."

Dooku was genuinely taken aback by the news. He had heard reports of the young Togruta Jedi and how she had survived both his most trusted assassin and his greatest general. He had been looking forward to meeting her one day.

Now...

Now she had departed. She was gone. Forever.

He could only imagine how young Skywalker felt about the loss of such a seemingly promising successor to his legacy. The little boy he ruthlessly amputated on Geonosis had surely come a long way since they first dueled.

"You seem unsettled, old friend," Sidious said, interrupting the brief silence and snapping Dooku out of his trance.

"This is surely surprising, master," Dooku replied, recovering his serenity. "How do you propose we approach this situation, especially since our troops are scattered throughout the Outer Rims and have broken through to the Mid Rim?"

"I have... means by which we can accomplish this objective, Lord Tyrannus. I sense that others might approach this situation with a similar intrigue, others of a mighty caliber like ours."

Dooku raised his gaze toward the ominous hologram, asking hesitantly, "Maul?"

Sidious's smile widened wickedly, "For now, we will let him play in the rubble and the criminal underworlds. In time, he will reveal himself, him and that witch. And when we do, we will crush our enemies in one fell swoop."

As Sidious cackled abruptly, Dooku silently lowered his head, frustration, anger, and a foreign emotion he hadn't felt since the start of the Clone Wars filled his mentality. He pushed them all to the back of his mind, hoping that Sidious would not notice or sense any of it.

Peace is a lie...

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