Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS, Angel, or Star Wars.

Dark Heart

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Maintenance!"

That word was not something the two Jedi or the Sith expected to hear. Anakin stared at the man hauling a cleaner's kit through the door. He paused, looking at the scene with shades around his eyes. The latest brand and craze, Anakin idly noted.

"Huh. They told me this place was going to be empty," he said.

"Leave," Mace Windu told him, keeping his focus on Chancellor Palpatine. His lightsaber's point was held an inch away from the man's face.

The newcomer was annoyed. "Hey look, I was sent to do a job. It's a quick one, shouldn't take more than a few minutes. So just let me do it and I'll get out of your hair, or lack thereof." The humor was unexpected, making Anakin smile for a moment.

It annoyed the Jedi Master. "Leave, or you risk getting yourself hurt."

"It's a simple job. Just gotta take out the trash: one Jedi Master with a purple lightsaber."

Anakin turned at those words, lightsaber already flying into his hands. But the Force slammed him into the wall as blaster fire rang out once.

There was a smoking hole in Master Windu's head, something that shouldn't belong. The momentum shifted his balance towards the open window. He fell, gone before anyone could stop him.

"Takes care of that," the man said as he holstered the small blaster. "Like I said, simple job." Anakin struggled to free himself, but the Force held him in place, a foot off the wall. He had never encountered such strength. What was even more shocking the man wasn't using a hand. He was holding Anakin in place by his will alone.

The man walked up to the Supreme Chancellor. "Hey, boss," he said with a grin. "Gotta say, love the view."

Palpatine scowled. Seeing such anger and hate, it destroyed Anakin's image of him. Only Darth Sidious remained. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"C'mon, boss. Was I supposed to stay away while the Jedi came to kill you?" He held out his hand. "I wouldn't be a good apprentice if I didn't at least try to help."

Anakin's eyes widened. The Jedi had long suspected the Sith's apprentice had been the one leading the Separatists. There had just never been any proof. Now, he was standing right there.

The man who caused the Republic so many defeats. Who killed so many Jedi. Who murdered Count Dooku.

And the Chancellor Anakin had once thought of as a friend was his master.

"Or was it because I foiled your grand plan again?" the man asked, smirking. "Was all this your attempt to make the Jedi up there fall?" His chuckle was a mocking thing. "Still got me, boss. You know the rules."

"Perhaps you don't think as much as you should," Darth Sidious said. "I wanted to see how loyal you were, to me and the Sith. Now I know." The man's hand was still offered. The Sith Lord took it, pulling himself to his feet.

The telltale sound of a lightsaber echoed in the room. Suddenly there was a red blade protruding from the Sith Lord's stomach. "Nice try, Sidious," the man said, still smiling. But there was something different about this smile. It was a hunter's smile, feral and ready to devour. "But we both know that's bullshit."

Darth Sidious stared at the lightsaber in the other man's hand. "You…how…?"

"I built it, like I was supposed to. Took me a couple of a years, but I liked how it turned out." He was still holding his master's hand, keeping him in place. "This is the end for you, my Master, like a proper Sith. You've taught me everything I needed to know. For that, I thank you." The lightsaber twisted and pulled upwards, leaving burning flesh in its wake. "But for all the pain you've caused me, you will not die quickly."

The lightsaber retracted just before it reached the heart and the man let go. Darth Sidious fell out the window, just like Master Windu. If there had been any scream, they didn't hear it.

The hold on Anakin vanished, letting him fall. The second his feet touched the ground; his lightsaber came out. "Don't move!" he ordered the man.

"Oh, put it away, Skywalker," he said, dismissing the threat. "You're not going to kill me. You don't even know who I am."

That was true. One reason they could never find the apprentice was because they didn't know his name. "Who are you, then?"

The smile might've looked genuine but it was full of mockery. "You can call me Darth Cordis." He headed for the door without a care in the galaxy. "Now, you should go back to your wife. I'm sure she's worried about you." Anakin paused, shocked about that. "Yes, I know. So did Sidious. Who do you think made you worry?"

Darth Sidious had done that? He had given Anakin the dreams? It made a chilling sense to him. But while he was wondered about that, the newly named Sith Lord kept on walking. "Wait!" Anakin shouted, going after him.

"I won't be talking to you, Anakin. We don't know each other that well," he replied without looking back. "But I'd be willing to confess. Tell Master Yoda to meet me in the Outlanders Club when he returns. And tell him to bring Deadboy and Captain Peroxide with him." He turned a corner, disappear from sight.

Anakin rushed around, but there was no one in sight. He stretched out with the Force but there was no one but him. It was as if the Sith was never there. Just like he had been before he entered the room and changed everything.


There were eyes watching the three of them as they made their way through the street. Angel and Spike had walked many streets like this one, just like they had walked this one. If they wanted to, they could've hidden away and no one would've found them. Instead, they followed the legendary Jedi into the Outlanders Club.

Fear and uncertainty dragged at their feet. When Anakin had rushed back into the Jedi Temple, all but begging to contact Yoda so he could explain what happened, the two vampires had been there. They heard every word. It was why they knew who this Darth Cordis wanted Yoda to bring with him. There was only one person who called them those names.

The club was noisy when they entered. But they shut out the noise and sniff the air. The scent was there. It had been years since they smelled this scent, nearly a decade. But it was still the same. They followed it to the back wall, where a quiet booth waited.

There he sat, all the while looking like a man there for a drink. "Angel, Spike," Xander Harris said, shaded eyes looking at them. "Long time." He looked at the Jedi and bowed his head. "Master Yoda, it's an honor to finally meet you."

Yoda regarded him for a moment before he took a seat, his cane resting by his side. "Politeness from a Sith, surprising it is," he remarked. Angel and Spike sat down as well, sitting opposite the man.

He smiled. "Just because we're enemies, doesn't mean we can't be civil. There'd probably be a lot less fighting between our orders if we actually sat down and shared a meal." The smile fell off as he looked at the vampires. "Before we start this, why don't you two get it out of your system?"

Angel and Spike shared a look. It shouldn't be so surprising he'd knew. Even though they weren't Jedi themselves, they knew what the Jedi could do. More than once they had seen one of the Slayers enjoy one of the abilities they had gained. And if a Jedi could do it, so could a Sith.

Angel spoke first. "Xander, we looked for you. Ever since we came here, we looked everywhere for you." Even now, he couldn't explain just what the hell happened that day.

His group had been meeting with the Slayer's Council when a freak storm tore through the castle, sweeping them all up into a wormhole and dropping them throughout Coruscant. When they had finally gathered at the Jedi Temple, only Xander had been missing. At first, they thought he had been on the planet, like them. When they couldn't find him anywhere, it only stood to reason to think he had been taken off-planet. So they searched for any and all hints of him whenever they went to a new planet.

"We only slowed the search because of the sodding war," Spike added. Even then, if they had the opportunity to look for Xander, they did.

Xander's smile was sad in its thankfulness. "I know. I've known for a long time."

"Then why didn't you show yourself? If you knew—"

"You can thank Sidious for that," he answered, the smile falling off. "The wormhole or whatever the hell it was, dropped me right into Sidious's lap. He must've thought I'd be perfect as an attack dog. So, within the day, he had me taken to Korriban."

His guests shifted at that declaration. Korriban, the ancient homeworld of the Sith, was one of the few places in the galaxy they only checked during the war. It had been a foul place, able and willing to kill any idiot unable to keep their guard up. And that was the planet alone. The Dark Side of the Force also hung over the planet like a curtain. More than one a Jedi felt its presence in that soil.

"When he finally came for me, he must've been shocked that I was still standing with a sound mind. Of course, he never showed it to me. He simply declared that I was ready to begin my training as his apprentice."

"How long, leave you there did he?" Yoda asked.

"I don't know. Maybe a year? Maybe more. At that point, all I cared about was getting off that rock."

"Why didn't you try and find us?" Spike asked. "You should've tried." As much as he could dislike Harris, he knew the man had a stubborn streak that could break against a mountain and win. If he had the chance to reach the Slayers, he would've taken it.

Xander smirked. "You think that Sidious would've let me run so easily? That man's uncertainty of my loyalty was only beaten by his willingness to break me. He didn't so much teach me as a student as he tried training me to his monster, like his last apprentice. He punished me, harshly, even when I did what he wanted. Force chokes, being electrocuted, refusing medical aid if I was injured were just some of the ways he used against me. He wanted me broken, nothing more than a body trained in the Dark Side that he could use."

"But you didn't," Angel said. Like Spike, he knew Xander's stubbornness. He still remembered when he blocked Angelus at the hospital. Even though he gave an air of bravado, the mere fact Xander was willing to look Angelus in the eye and promised death made him weary.

"But I didn't," he answered. "I learned from him but I never submitted. Taunts and jokes were how I kept my will my own. And I kept my ear to the ground. It didn't take much for me to figure out that he wanted Anakin to be his actual apprentice. I was a placeholder, someone temporary. So I did what I could to ensure Anakin didn't fall. Sidious made a step to start his fall, I made my own to block it."

He didn't say it, but Yoda knew what he implied. "The Tusken Raiders. After Shmi Skywalker he sent them."

Again, Xander nodded. "Yep. And I was there to rescue her and send her back to her family. I was told she reached her home just as her son came to visit. That must've been a heartfelt surprise. Plus, Anakin knew his mother was still alive. A win for him was a win for me." The little smile he wore fell off. "Then Sidious learned what I did. He didn't like it. In fact, he punished me quite harshly."

His hand clenched the table, as if it was the only thing holding him down. It wasn't something the others missed. "Y'know, I thought I knew pain when Caleb plunged his thumb into my eye," he said, almost to himself. "Boy, was I wrong. That, at least, had been quick."

"Xander—"

Angel's words died as he reached up and took off the shades, revealing two empty holes where his eyes should've been. "Do you know what it was like?" he asked the vampires. "To be held in the air, unable to move, as your eye is slowly pulled out of the socket." They didn't answer, so he kept talking. "It starts as an itch, something to rub away if you could. Then it grows into something sharper, an actual pulling sensation. It's pulled out of there, inch by inch, all the while you can feel all the pain and still see out of it. You scream, wanting the pain or you to disappear, but you're kept awake through the whole thing. You've no choice in the matter. And finally, when the eye is stretched beyond its limit, the nerve all but willing to break at the faintest touch—"

"Stop it," Angel said. "We get it, Xander. You…you don't need to tell us." Angelus might've been impressed by such detail. He just felt sickened by it.

He stopped and the club's noise washed over them. "…That was probably the closest I ever came to actually breaking," Xander continued. "Being there, alone in the dark, nothing dulling the pain, I could hear his taunts. How the girls had been taken in by the Jedi and being trained like them, how they seemed to enjoy the lives they had now, going where they wanted, how…Giles died and oh what a lovely funeral it was." His voice cracked at the name. "If he had told me to die, I probably would've."

He stopped and breathed. The more he breathed, the calmer he became. His hand pulled back from the table and the shades were put back on. "Good thing the war started, and he had need of me. Got me cleaned up, healed, and running things from the Separatists' side." He leaned back and spread his arms wide. "And now, here we are."

"Yes," Yoda agreed. "What now, the question is. Confession, you told Skywalker this would be."

"And a confession, it will be." That was off-putting. No one mocked Master Yoda's way of speaking. No one was that insane. Yet, Xander had done it. "First, the major thing: the Clone Wars was nothing more than Sidious's plan to gain absolute power over the Republic and the Separatists. Of course, things should've been going much better for the Republic."

Angel wanted to scowl. Even though the public thought the war was going well, the clones, their officers, and the Jedi knew differently. The Republic had been losing the war for the past few months. The sneak attack General Grievous launched against Coruscant proved their defenses were easily penetrated. More than a few meetings discussed the possibility they would be losing Core Words soon.

"And what? You're going to brag that it was all you then, eh?" Spike asked.

"Well, not all me. I had help. Your side had people who guess the future, great tacticians, and some impressive strategists. I had a nerd." He smirked as if that explained everything.

For the vampires, it did. "Andrew." No one had been sure if Andrew had been in the castle when the wormhole struck. He was supposed to be heading to London but one of the Slayers mentioned him double-checking the kitchen. So he had come along, and they never found him.

"Yep. God bless Andrew and his encyclopedic knowledge of all things geeky. Helped me a lot." His hand rose, stopping any argument. "But Master Yoda is getting rather annoyed, so I will get back on track. I'm willing to reveal all the Separatists' secrets and coverups, everything that'll make them fold faster than you can blink."

Something was wrong. This was all too easy. If he knew all this, why didn't he try it sooner? Why drag the war out the long? "Xander, what do you want?" Spike demanded.

He grinned, showing teeth. "Nothing. But it's not just the Separatists' secrets that'll be revealed. The Republic's dirty laundry will be aired, to all. Everything each side did, the mistakes, all of it, will be broadcasted through the HoloNet." He waited as the shocked surprise rode across their faces. "But wait, we're not done. The factories creating all the Separatist droids and the programs involved, along with any future designs and upgrades, will be taken out. And the Grand Army of the Republic will turn on each other while anything involved with their genetic template is wiped out." He glanced upwards, as if contemplating something. "I imagine you might want to get ahead of that. After all, you have so little time."

The Jedi Master showed quite remarkable speed as he hurried out of the club. The vampires wanted to follow but a nagging feeling kept them in their seats. "What didn't you say?" Angel asked.

The teeth disappeared but the smile was still there. "I wasn't kidding about so little time. I figured that if he had a half-hour, the Jedi would manage to divert some of the damage done. That's why I started the process twenty-five minutes."

Which meant Yoda would be too late.

The simple truth stunned them. Already, they could imagine the damage this could do to the Republic. "Why?" Spike asked. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because too many people on both sides think the war doesn't concern them. If they want to keep the fight going, they'll have to get involved themselves, not send someone else to do the dirty work." He paused for a moment. "But if you want a simpler answer, why don't we just say it's my turn."

Neither of them liked that answer. "Your turn?" Angel asked.

"Yeah. Each of Buffy's friends have been an enemy at one point or other. Except me. So, why not have my turn? Maybe I'll be the one who beats her."

"Xander—"

The smile vanished, for good. "Xander Harris is gone, Spike. I haven't seen him in a long time. I am Darth Cordis now."

"I don't believe that," he argued.

"You should. You think my hands stayed clean during the war? I've done things." His sightless eyes stared across the table at them. "When Count Dooku reconsidered his allegiance, I was the one who killed him. When Andrew didn't have any more use, I was the one who put him down. I was the one who led Charlie into that ambush. I was the one who imprisoned Illyria and sent her tomb flying into that sun."

He could taste their emotions from his side of the table. "You? That was you?" Angel demanded, his voice all but growling. He had been the one who found Gunn while Spike had watched as Illyria burned to ashes.

"Yes, and I'm not going to stop. I am the Dark Lord of the Sith now."

"You want to rule the galaxy, mate?" Spike asked with a scoff. "Pull the other one."

"No, not rule. I think we can all agree I'm not that kind of guy. I'll settle for watching the chaos." He leaned back as he felt their emotions through the Force. "You still doubt I could do something like that." His hand reached out and gestured to the club. "Look."

They followed his hand and froze. "Dru…" Spike whispered. Angel just stared at the woman he drove mad and sired wander through the club. She almost seemed ethereal as she walked, her little amused smirk for everyone to see.

"We captured her the day before you guys showed up. She managed to do well for herself since coming here but I've been reaching out to her through the Force, giving her hints where to go. She thinks she's come to finally get her kitten. It's going to be quite different." Darth Cordis leaned in close. "Would you like to know what I'm going to do to her?"

Neither of them could speak, half-afraid and half-curious to hear his answer. It was amusing to feel that conflicting mess from them both. So he obliged. "First, I'm going to cure her madness. Then, I'm going to restore her soul. And once she's ready, I'll take her as my apprentice. And when I do, I'll create something Angelus could've only fantasize about: a souled vampire, able to make moral choices, yet fully empowered by the Dark Side. That'll be a sight to see, won't it?" he finished with bared teeth.

The image he painted was a frightening one. What made it all the more real was they could see it happen. "That is, of course, if I get to her first," Darth Cordis added.

Spike knew what he implied. A cold feeling entered his gut and didn't leave. He looked across the table but he didn't see Xander sitting there. "You…you don't mean…?"

He nodded. "You're both packing stakes. She's right there. Oh, I'm sure you're thinking of alternatives. Take me on, maybe even knock me out and imprison me, or grab her and get her away. The first might work, but she'll get away. The second would be the better option, but she's going to keep coming, looking for me. And she will find me."

…Damn it, he was right. There was only one thing they could do. They tried to make excuses as they rose up. That this was a long time coming. They were the only ones who could do it. This was a mistake they needed to fix. But each just didn't work.

She saw Spike first and her eyes brightened. "My Spike," she purred. Then Angel came up from behind and staked her. The sounds of her dusting were lost in the noise.

When they looked back at the table, the man they once knew was gone.


Like he said, there was much chaos throughout the Republic. There was outrage amongst the general public about the information. The Senate was on the verge on besieged by the people. But while they were angry about being lied and misinformed (something Darth Sidious had done very well) the Senate and Jedi had learned something much worse.

The Grand Army of the Republic been massacred, by itself. From what they learned, certain clones had been given behavioral biochips that, when activated, would make the clone look for "The Mark of the Beast" and kill any clone that had the Mark. It was estimated that nearly three quarters of the GAR had the chip. The percentage of clones dead stood at 98. Even with news that the Separatists' armies were destroyed, the Jedi were still feeling the loss of the men they fought beside.

The senators who advocated for the war's end pushed for peace talks. The war hawks wanted to keep fighting even though they didn't have the men. The writing on the wall was clear: things were going to get worse before they got better.

And it was worse for the Slayers. Angel and Spike told them how the meeting went. It was hard to think of Xander as a Sith but the way they talked about he coldly manipulated them both into killing Drusilla sat uneasily with them all. Needless to say, both vampires did their very best to get drunk afterwards.

There was a small bright spot, though. Master Yoda had slipped a tracker onto him at the club. It allowed them to track his movements, all the way back to Korriban. More than one Jedi wanted to go there and find Darth Cordis, either to bring him to justice or kill him. The Slayers agreed with the first sentiment and took upon themselves to do it. They even took it a step further and called upon the remaining 2% of the GAR as support.

However, they also deliberately left behind their leaders. So now, Buffy, Willow, and Faith were trying to make up a two-day delay to Korriban. Each was trying to prepare for what could happen on that planet.

Buffy moved through her katas, hands and feet striking the air. She had been going at it for nearly two hours now and had worked up a good sweat. But even as she finished the last step, she wasn't calm. Her mind was too scattered, unable to focus. No, that wasn't true. It could focus on something, but she didn't want it to.

"You're thinking about him," said Willow from where she stood at the door.

Buffy nodded. There was no point denying the fact. "He was tortured, Will." While the Slayers had been welcomed by the Jedi, going so far as to bring them into their ranks proper to be trained, Xander suffered. Even though they searched for him, now those efforts didn't seem like much. "He was treated like a disposable weapon."

"I know." She smiled, trying to brighten the mood. "But he proved to be his usual Xander-self and beat the odds."

While that normally perked Buffy up, this time it just made her think of the outcome. "And now he's the Sith, this Darth Cordis." Every time she heard that name, it felt like a slap across her soul. More than once they had said Xander was the heart of the Scoobies. Now it was twisted against them.

She saw Willow's smile dropped and instantly feeling bad. Her best friend was feeling the lost just like she was, maybe more. They had been the ones who kept the hope going that Xander was out there, still alive. When even Giles doubted, they refused to believe otherwise.

Well, that hope had been paid off, just not the way they wanted. "How's Faith doing?" Buffy asked.

"She's staying in her own cabin," Willow answered. "I think she's still comprehending the fact Xander killed Dooku."

Yeah, that one stung. When it came to Faith, Master Yoda reached out to his old student and asked Dooku to train her, as one last favor from his master. Much to the surprise of everyone, Faith responded to his lessons and teaching methods, even giving him a nickname, Sensei D. Dooku took the nickname and her in stride. In time, he came to see her as an honorary niece.

His death was early in the war, and came as a surprise to everyone. Serenno had been a part of the Separatists but he advocated for peace and a chance to negotiate with the Republic. Since he had been a former Jedi Master, no one expected him to die so easily. Yet that was what happened, in his own home. It came as a shock to both sides.

Buffy grieved with Faith for the loss of Dooku. But now, with the information that he had been aligned with the Sith, possibly even having the chance of becoming the apprentice, that grief was tainted. She had to wonder if he tried to tempt Faith to the Dark Side. No, she couldn't think that. Faith had her dark spots but she was doing her best to move past them. Dooku had helped her with them.

Yet, it was Xander who killed him, and killed others. "What are we going to do, Willow?" she asked. "When we find Xander, what are we going to do?" She didn't know herself. There was one answer but she was afraid to go through with it.

Willow marched up and gave Buffy her best Resolve Face. "We're going to find him, smack him upside the head for scaring us like that for all these years, and then remind him that he has friends and loved ones. Besides," she said with a little smirk, "I'm sure the other Slayers are already doing their best to remind him of that now."

Buffy giggled a little at that suggestion. "Yeah, they weren't too happy with him." The more she thought about it, the more she figured Xander didn't have much of a chance.

The ship's hyperspace warning rang out. They were getting close to Korriban. They ran into Faith as they headed to the cockpit. "Faith, you okay?" Buffy asked her.

"Five by five, B," she said with her usual confidence. "But X and I are gonna have a long conversation." She was the first one in the cockpit. "What's going on, Little D?"

Dawn kept her eyes on the controls and the window. "We've reached Korriban. The Shield is in orbit," she told them.

"Hail them."

"We've tried," said Connor from the other seat. "There's been no response, at all." He frowned as he looked at his screens. "The only kind of signal we're getting is from the planet. It's a message on repeat: SOS."

A bad feeling crawled into everyone's stomach at that. "Get us down there," Buffy ordered, "now."

It didn't take long for the ship to enter orbit and find the signal. But when they stepped out onto Korriban's surface, the sight that greeted them stopped them in their tracks.

Their Slayers were strewn across the ground, all dead. So were the clones that came with them.

There was only one survivor.

"Kennedy!" Willow screamed with worry, rushing over to her girlfriend. Once she was close, Kennedy latched onto her with a desperate energy, refusing to even think of letting go.

The others had to pick their way through the bodies. Buffy tried not to look at all those dead eyes but there were so many. "Kennedy, what happened?" she asked once they were close.

"He did," she whispered, half to herself. "He did all of this." Her eyes kept staring at the bodies, unable to look away.

"Who?" Dawn asked. "Xander?" Xander had done all this? She couldn't believe it. Xander wouldn't hurt his girls, much less kill them.

"No! Not Xander. The Sith. Darth Cordis. He did this!" she sobbed. A shaking finger raised and pointed at a cliff. "He was waiting for us. He knew about the tracker, kept it so we could find him. Once he saw us and the clones, he…he said…something." She blinked, trying to remember the words. But they wouldn't come. "Then he raised a communicator and said, 'Execute Order 66." The finger fell and she clutched Willow even tighter. "The clones turned on us, all of us, and started shooting. We fought back but they were killing us. By the time it was done, I…I was the only one left."

Chills ran down their spines as they listened. Now they knew why the Shield had been silent. It had been manned by only clones and Slayers. The bodies around only amount to half of them. So he must've broadcasted to the ship as well. "What about Xander?" Willow asked. "What did he do?"

"Nothing!" she said in near hysterics. "Once the order was given, he left! He didn't even try to kill me! He just fucking left!" She buried her face into Willow's stomach. "I wanna go home now. Please, take me home, Willow. I don't wanna be here." She sounded so broken, completely unlike the confident Kennedy they all knew.

They took Kennedy back to the ship and called the Jedi to let them know what happened. A ship arrived a day later to take away the bodies, both on the planet and the Shield. As Buffy and the others suspected, there was no one left alive on the ship.

As they left Korriban behind, back to Coruscant and a now uncertain future, they all had the same damning thought: Angel and Spike were right. Xander Harris was gone.

All that remained was Darth Cordis.

But with that thought came a new resolve. If the Sith was what remained, then they would do right by Xander. They would find this Darth Cordis and put him in the ground so their friend could have peace.

He earned that much.

End

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.

I guess you could say this story was inspired by Jedi Harris by the Dark Scribbler. Love the series and I hope he'll eventually get back to it.

As I've said before, I am a great believer in Xander Harris. I am such a believer that it's my belief that if he had ever turned against Buffy, there's a very good chance that he would win. Out of all the Scoobies, he's the one who stayed in the fight and by Buffy's side. The only one who didn't go evil. So if he does, the Scoobies' odds are not good.

The Scoobies arrived in the Star Wars universe right between Episodes I and II. So while they couldn't have stopped Qui-Gon's death, they could provide Anakin with care and support, the kind he needed. They might not have been a father figure, but there were plenty of uncles and big sister figures for the boy. Even Faith being Dooku's student would cause him to have doubts about becoming Darth Tyranus. Enough things would've been change to make the Clone Wars go differently.

Of course, that would be for the same for the other side. To make it clear, the Scoobies did know about Star Wars beforehand but their memories were suppressed or wiped when they were brought over. The only reason Andrew's wasn't is because he was that big of a nerd. The man could debate which version of the Death Star was accurate. At that point, there is no argument.

What Darth Cordis had planned to do with Drusilla is both what he thought would be the most horrible outcome and a way to rub it in Angel's face. Angelus drove Drusilla insane before siring her, losing her soul in the process. Darth Cordis would've built her back from that madness while keeping all her strengths, and brought her deeper into the Dark Side. In short, he would've proven to Angelus that he could take his best work and make it greater, something he could never do. If that happened to Drusilla, there would've been no way of stopping her. Small wonder Spike and Angel killed her before that happened.

If you're wondering what the order was for the clones to look for the "Mark of the Beast," just add another 6 to the infamous order. And if you're curious what Xander's Sith name means, look at the story title.

I'll see you all next chapter!