Writers note:

New chapters! Whoo hoo! Once more, no beta-reader.I won'tmake a big rant about it.x.x

Well, enjoy! XD

Chapter eight: A new beginning

She sat in her room, curled up in the corner of her bed. Her arms where wrapped around her legs, which were pulled up to her chest; and her face was buried in her knees. Her blinds were half open to give her darkened room a little bit of light shining off the buildings outside her window. Eleic watched his master weep from his spot at the end of the bed. He gave out a soft worried beep.

Hours before they returned to Coruscant, Shika had put Riku's body in the large open ocean on Kamino, she would have preferred to do the standard burial of a Jedi, but the rain would have easily put out the flames. So she just did a burial at sea. When she finally did return to Coruscant, Shaak Ti had greeted her, and asked her what had happened. Shika, however, did not say a single word, she just walked passed the Jedi and hid herself in her room. Being Obi-wan hadn't come to her room yet, it must have met he was still asleep, or not even here. So Shika sat alone, injured and damp.

Shika sobbed quietly to herself, just the thought of the death of Riku was more than enough to make her feel this sadden emotion. Not to mention her family was also dead, and the Council was dead to her as far as she was concerned. But she was a Jedi, she wasn't supposed to feel these emotions, it's was drives a Jedi to the dark side from what Master Yoda said. But why trust the little green midget? After all he's a lair too, so, for all she knew, these emotions were allowed to be felt. The Jedi Council most likely came up with such foolishness because they enjoyed watching their own people suffer.

She hated it.

She hated the Council, she wanted to slay them all oh so badly, them and their stupid rules. They think their all powerful, she thought; I'd wish they'd all die. All of them, gone. She slowly lifted her head; her eyes were burning with tears. It's all the Council's fault; Riku would have been alive still if they didn't have the idiotic rules. And maybe if the Jedi hadn't lied to her, she wouldn't be here crying her eyes out. She looked over at the small remote Grievous had left in her possession; it was lying across the bed from her along with her light saber and her cloak. She took a deep breathe and whipped the tears falling from her eyes. She reached out and grabbed the small box and stared at it, she then pressed the small button, it made a faint click, and that was it.

She got up from her bed and then looked at Eleic. She motioned for the R4 unit to come to her, and he did, he rolled over and she kneeled down and smiled weakly." I need a favor."

"Are you droids all morons?" Grievous yelled as he slammed a repair droid into a wall. The other droids backed up from him as he stormed over towards one of his shut off magnaguards, its head was detached and was hanging onto its neck by a thin black wire. Grievous ripped the head off the body and glared back at the droids, he held the head out to them." Does this look fixed to you?" The droids were silent." DOES IT?" The droids then snapped up and shook their heads quickly. Grievous threw the head at one of the droids." I want my guards to be practically invincible, and they can't BE invincible if their heads fall off whenever you barely hit it!" The droids all nodded quickly and scampered off to fix the bodyguard.

Grievous set his hand on his head as he began walking out from the room, his head hurt, he was tired of the idiotic droids messing with his magnaguards, breaking them as they attempted to fix them. As he walked towards the bridge of his ship, the Invisible Hand, a battle droid quickly ran to him. Grievous turned to face the approaching droid.

"Sir, we are getting a strange signal coming from Coruscant." The droid informed. Grievous stood there for a moment.

Strange signal? From what? Then it hit him, the girl! How could have forgotten her? He then began storming down the hall of the ship, his feet quickly moving as he headed for the docking bay, the droid following behind him." Trace the signal to its exact location, ready my shuttle! MOVE!" He barked as he grabbed the droid and shoved him off.

Shika walked out from her room, in new drier clothes, her wounds were healed, the small remote stashed in her pocket. The halls were empty, the Jedi were all in their separate rooms sleeping the night away. She quickly headed towards the stairs to the entrance of the Jedi Temple. Eleic, however, did not follow her; he rolled off towards another direction. Shika pressed the doors open to the building and quickly shifted out of them, she ran down the stairs and out into the streets, she had to move quickly.

It was a few moments before Shika reached the bottom area of a landing pad, she ran over to an elevator, she got aboard and pressed a button, it then lifted up into the air. She waited. Once reaching the top she walked out onto a landing platform, she then sat herself down on a pile of crates and she waited once more. It was about fifteen minutes before she saw a ship flying towards the landing pad, she stood up and fixed herself. The ship's landing gears fell out from under it and it landed. Shika took a deep breathe as she watched the back hatch of the door slowly fall towards the ground. Slowly walking down the ramp was Grievous, he was looking directly at her.

Once his feet touched the ground fully, he walked towards her; he wasted no time in foolish greetings, he lowered his face in front of hers and stared at her." Well?" He asked. Shika pulled a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she attempted to keep her eyes staring at the General.

"I've… I- I." The General let out a low growl of impatience. She only swallowed her fear before straitening up." I've decided that… I want to join the Separatists." Grievous stood tall. Shika watched his eyes flicker; it seemed he was acting like he had just earned victory.

"Excellent choice." He said before pointing to the shuttle." Get aboard." She nodded slowly and then began walking up the ramp into the ship, Grievous followed behind her. Shika paused and took a glance back at Coruscant, this would be the last she ever saw the planet. Her last gaze didn't last long; Grievous shoved her onto the ship and walked in after her. Shika stood there, staring out the door as it sealed shut.

"Take us back to the Invisible Hand; also inform Count Dooku we have the girl." She heard Grievous say. Once the door closed she sighed and turned to face inside the ship, Grievous had already sat himself down in one of the seats. Shika just stood. Grievous' eyes traveled to her, he then pointed at a seat across from him.

"Sit."

Shika blinked and sat down quickly. He seemed much more forceful over her now; maybe it was because she worked on his side now that he had power over her? But wasn't that the whole reason she left the Jedi Order? The Republic? She fiddled with her fingers as she stared down at her feet, she didn't want to make eye contact with anyone in the ship, not like any of them were really living, breathing creatures. All of them were hard metal beings with no human like features at all. She looked up at Grievous through the bangs of her hair that were in her face. His arms were crossed and his eyes were closed, as if he were almost lost in thought.

There was something different about that droid though, he almost had human like eyes, not a feature you'd see on a droid… Was he even a droid? All she knew about him was that he was a Jedi killing machine. She lifted her head to look at Grievous fully.

"E- Excuse me." She said in almost a whisper. Grievous' eyes shot open to look at her." I don't mean to be rude… O- Or anything but… But are you a… Um. Droid?" She knew he didn't like the question, or being referred to as a droid, just by the small twitch in his eye answered her question. She lowered her head again, not wanting to carry on the conversation. It seemed he didn't really like talking now… He changed so much, it was weird.

Maybe he got air sick? But how was that possible? Maybe he felt dizzy and didn't feel like talking? Something about Grievous fascinated her so much, he was just… Just a thing. She didn't know what to call him. Maybe a cyborg? But then he might not like that either. There was just so much to this General, and being she was on the Separatists side now, she might acutally get to ask him personal questions. She lifted her head again to Grievous; he just sat there, silently, his head drooped over.

He was just so different from the rest, just thinking about it made her smile then let out a soft giggle. Grievous' head snapped up towards her. She stopped. There was a long pause until Grievous spoke.

"Why were you giggling, girl?" He asked. Shika coughed into her fist.

"I was just thinking of something… That's all." Grievous launched up from his seat and slammed his hands on either side of Shika; he lowered his face to her, staring at her with a deadly look.

"You're lying." Shika stared in fear at the masked General, she attempted to speak but all that came out was a tiny faint squeak. Grievous knew he won. So he gave out a light huff and fell back into his seat. Shika sat there, as if she were paralyzed; he just acted so quickly, what if she had actually called him names? He could have killed her right in that instant. Half the time that Shika would shift poses, Grievous' attention would snap to her for a moment, and then he would go back into thought. It was like he was uncomfortable with her being here. So for the remaining moments on the shuttle, Shika kept her head lowered, she made no sounds, no deep sighs, or any sudden movements.

Grievous walked down out into the hanger bay of the Invisible Hand, Shika slowly walked out, she was observing everything in the room, including Count Dooku, who was greeting the General. Shika reached the floor with her gaze popping from place to place, it was so different from the Republics hanger bays; they had droids buzzing about instead of actual people.

"Ahh, and this must be the Jedi girl Riku told me about." Dooku said in almost a cheery tone. Shika snapped her attention over to Dooku, a little bit startled; she noticed Grievous motioned his head towards Dooku, as a signal to introduce herself.

"Oh! I'm Shika Cloudrunner, sir." She bowed. Dooku raised an eyebrow before walking over to her. She stood normally and Dooku set his hand on her shoulder.

"Well, Miss Cloudrunner, if you would be so kind, please follow me. I'd like you to get started right away." Shika stared. What did he mean by that? He removed his hand and turned from Shika and began walking, Shika gulped and followed after him. Taking a small glance back at the General, who was barking orders at the droids.

Dooku led Shika into a small dorm room, all that was really there was a transmitter, similar to the one Master Yoda had in the meditation room. The door behind Shika slid closed; she turned and looked at it. She was starting to feel really uncomfortable in this situation; she'd rather be with Grievous and getting yelled at than being alone in this room with Dooku.

"My master, I present to you, Shika Cloudrunner." She heard Dooku say. She spun around to see a hologram of the one and only Darth Sidious, she gasped lightly. She stood there for a moment until she noticed there was a long awkward pause, she goofed! She then bowed before Sidious.

"It is an honor to be in your presence." She said quickly. Sidious only smiled weakly from under his hooded cloak.

"Yes… Darth Shebika has told me much about this girl… Excellent with a saber…" Sidious said as he nodded." I hope you find your stay with us… Comfortable." Shika nodded quickly." Good, good. You will be serving under my apprentice, Darth Tyranus, you will be taking the place of Asa-"

"Excuse me, milord," Shika butted in. Sidious waited." I do not mean to interrupt you but… I don't wish to serve under Count Dooku." Sidious looked a bit surprised, as did Dooku.

"If you do not wish to serve under him, then who will you serve for?" He asked.

"I… I want to serve under the General, milord, General Grievous." Dooku and Sidious looked at each other, sending a faint smile to each other before returning to Shika.

"But you will learn nothing of our way of the Force." Sidious answered.

"I want nothing more to do with the Force, milord. I just want to become the best I can with a light saber." Shika answered.

"But Lord Tyranus trained the General; surely he can teach you what the General knows not." Shika just shook her head. Sidious smiled." Of course, you may become his apprentice; this droid," He slightly waved his hand." Will show you to your resting quarters." When that was said a battle droid walked into the room, he looked to Shika.

"Follow me, ma'am." He said before turning and leaving the room. Shika bowed to both Dooku and Sidious before following out after the droid. Dooku looked to Sidious.

"It seems everything is going according to plan." He said.

"Yes… Inform the General that the girl is his new apprentice." Sidious commanded.

"Yes my master."