Chancellor Sheev Palpatine of the Republic paused mid sentence in his conversation with the senator in the Senate that he was working to support his latest bill. If he passed enough bills under his leadership no matter how insignificant then most of the Senators would look to him as the authority in getting their own pet projects passed, and therefore gave him even more political influence as a result.

  But right then… He had felt something strange. A burst of the dark side, only the faintest whiff of it to his senses. But it was quite far away and completely unmasked. For someone even of Palpatine’s refined senses to detect it from across the galaxy, then it must be quite the burst indeed.

  WIth only a small pause, Palpatine continued his conversation with the inconsequential senator for another full minutes before wrapping the meeting up as soon as he reasonably could and sending the woman on her way.

  Alone in his office, Lord Sidious of the Sith closed his eyes and felt the energy of the dark side and tasted its flavors. He often compared the feeling like that to a subtle and refined wine. Different flavors and swirls of emotions that was unique to each user and instance of the dark side.

  He sat there for some time, rolling the sensation around in his mind and considering what he felt. Anger, rage, loss. Yet the loss was only a small component. A large helping of helplessness and fear. A protective element, yes. This person whoever it was was powerful, able to draw so deeply from the dark side on what felt like must have been their first true encounter with it.

  They were likely slaughtering whoever was nearby besides whoever or whatever their protective element was protecting. But who could…

  Palpatine’s thoughts ground to a halt as a possibility occurred to him. The Chosen One? This early? No, what could have driven the boy so far? To fall to the dark so suddenly and without warning?

  The faint pulsing of the dark continued for over an hour, before like a switch was flipped, it vanished all at once as if it had never been in the middle of another one of the boring meetings that he was forced to indulge as Chancellor.

  As his latest pawn left the room, Palpatine sat back and steepled his fingers and considered. He doubted that the Jedi in the temple itself had felt the burst of the dark side. It was too subtle, too weak here on Coruscant for that. But it was possible that Jedi closer to the point of origin might have felt something.

  He must contact Lord Tyrannus at once. If the boy was not dead, then he must be brought under their care immediately at all costs. They only had a little time before the Jedi Council caught wind from anyone closer to the epicenter.

  He could not lose a new apprentice that powerful. Tyrannus was hardly even a sith at all at this point, Lord Sidious was sure that he could be convinced to stand aside if given the right incentives. He only cared about the political power and how the Dark side helped him achieve his goals rather than revel in it for its own sake. A failing that he had as a Sith apprentice.

  The rule of two could be broken briefly so long as Sidious could be assured that Dooku remained silent and kept his powerful techniques only for his own use. Yes, it was heretical against the sith code… But rules were made to be broken.

  He called for Mas Ameda and as soon as the man was inside started speaking.

  “I need a political crisis right now,” he said, “Something to justify me fleeing the planet to places unknown for my own safety.”

  Mas rolled with the sudden demand and stroked his chin thoughtfully.

  “How soon is it needed, my lord? Speed and risk of discovery are at odds in this case. A single mistake could bring me or the both of us tumbling down from on high.”

  Palpatine considered before sighing. It couldn’t be helped, “Within the week at the most.”

  “Very well, my lord,” Mas said, “I will arrange the assassination of a few of our less important members of our coalition. Mercenaries from the outer rim as the culprit, hired by part of the growing separatist movement. No one could fault you for leaving the planet for a short while in the wake of such a tragedy.”

  “Very well, see it done.”

  Mas bowed and left the room.

  Lord Sidious had some work to do.

  — — —

  Jedi Master Erten stopped the battle as his head snapped around as a massive pulse of dark side energy like none he’d ever felt before washed over him, putrid and malevolent to his senses.

  He turned to Dooku, who was staring in the same direction as the pulse, the battle briefly paused as even the Padawan sensed it.

  “Master Dooku. Whatever that is, we must combat it together!” Master Erten said as he turned to him, “Isn’t that the direction of the spaceport?”

  Dooku looked into the distance with a severe expression as the pulses of the dark side grew even stronger with each moment.

  “This is…” he said before trailing off, “Do what you wish. I will flee.”

  With that, Jedi Master Dooku and accomplished master of all the Jedi dueling arts turned and dashed out the door and was halfway down the street before Master Erten could react.

  He turned to his Padawan who was breathing heavily from the extended battle with Master Dooku, staring to the source of the dark side pulse with a pale face.

  “Master is that…”

  “I don’t know. Master Dooku is correct in one thing… We are not equipped to handle whatever that thing is. We must focus on contacting the Republic and saving as many civilians as we can. We do that by coordinating the military response, not confronting this directly.”

  “Yes, master.”

  They quickly started running towards their ship which they had parked on the outskirts of town. The spaceport was for protection more than anything, any ship left out in the desert would be stripped for parts the second it was unguarded. But their staff were there to fend off any scavengers, so they had chosen to land out of town.

  They reached the ship and were about to go in when there was a loud scream behind them that pulsed with a wave of the Dark side and echoed through the city even from where they stood.

  They glanced at each other briefly before entering their ship and saw that their crew were already calling for assistance over comms.

  “Take off now,” Master Erten ordered, “What is the chatter from Jabba and the planet’s fleet of mercenaries?”

  “Jabba has holed up in his palace,” his closest crew member said, “It's on the outskirts of Mos Espa, and it seems he's raising his defenses in case the boy starts moving his way. All of his personal guards are remaining within the building. Hundreds of mercenaries are about to land on the edge of town from the orbital fleets and start moving inwards to combat the… threat.”

  “What is it? Some creature that was released? Somebody from the spaceport, a dark side user after Padawan Skywalker?”

  The staff member hesitated before leading them to the nearby room where he tapped the console and tapped it to turn on the screen. It showed a view that shocked Master Erten to the core.

  “Padawan Skywalker?” he said in disbelief as he saw the boy silently scream and leap onto another Republic operative attempting to shoot at him. The blaster bolt dispersed into nothing as the rampant padawan stabbed him over and over with a durasteel knife in a mindless rage.

  Another person shot at the boy, and he stopped his assault on the very dead man and snapped his head to the side and ran again with Force empowered speed to leap on his next victim. His eyes were stained a deep yellow so they barely looked human and black fluid leaked from the corners of his eyes and ran down the side of his face like tears as he fought.

  “Master? What should we do?”

  “We… must alert the council,” he said after recovering, “This is… They must be informed. We will let Jabba spend his men against this… creature and we swoop in to capture him once he’s weakened.”

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  “But Master, he’s the chosen one. How could this happen? What if they manage to kill him?”

  Master Erten didn’t answer for a moment, “He is corrupted by the dark side, forever tainted by it. If he can not be contained then we will kill him ourselves. Prepare yourself.”

  They watched as the hundreds of mercenaries descended on the boy all on his lonesome from the edge of the city as all the civilians of Mos Espa started to flee the budding chaos.

  How could this happen indeed? Something must have gone horribly wrong for the boy to fall this far…

  — — —

  The beast fought as best as it could with its single claw, with the pulsing dark and hatred powering its limbs even as they no longer moved by themselves. More and more of the enemy kept coming, firing their exhausting weapons and blasters at the beast’s body as it did its best to dodge and leap amongst their ranks.

  The beast dimly remembered a thought, an idea. Something beyond mere instinct. It raised a hand towards a group of enemies gathered close together and seized the wall of a nearby house with his dark Force and pulled inwards with his hand.

  The wall collapsed and chunks of sandstone flew out and peppered the nearby soldiers, sending several of them to the ground from the blow. The beast roared in satisfaction and stopped using its claws when this dark Force could make do instead to not only flow through its limbs, but as a limb to send enemies flying and collapse walls upon the enemies charging it.

  How many enemies were there? The beast didn’t count, only able to focus on a few enemies at a time in its rage fueled mind. All of their blasters did nothing but increase the beast’s rage. Using the Dark drained the rage, but the indignity of being shot by the enemies increased it. The two were in balance, with only the beast’s mindless state letting it keep spending its Dark side of the Force like water.

  Then after some time, there were no more enemies. None fired their weapons on the beast, and it stood there panting in the rubble of the destroyed street. Were there any more enemies? Surely there must be more. There were always more.

  The beast looked around and pounced when it saw movement in the rubble of a nearby house.

  It used the dark Force to throw aside the rubble in its way and leapt forward at the movement. The beast paused in confusion as it saw below itself. An enemy/not enemy? It was an enemy like the others, but also not. Not armored and no weapons in her hands. She had a bulky metal collar around her neck and was cowering, curled up in a ball as the beast stood above her with its yellow eyes.

  “Take her! Take her, just spare us!” a male voice suddenly said from nearby. The beast snapped its head around and leapt forward and dealt with the next enemy as it had the others. It came back and stared at the collared woman in confusion, something stirring within it. She reminded him of someone…

  Yes, the ones like this were to be protected. Not an enemy. Its mind became confused as it remembered that not all that were protected wore the bulky metal collars. If it couldn’t see, then how could it know what the enemy was?

  Anakin stumbled to the side as the confusion pierced through the rage as the lack of battle and sight of the slave allowed him to regain a scrap of rationality. With all of his might in his dim mind, Anakin pulled on his mind shield and tried to counter the influence of the Dark side upon him.

  He looked around still in a rage, but nothing attacked him. Even the slave behind him remained frozen in place and as silent as could be as he stood there motionless as he waged a war in his mind for control.

  The anger and rage started to drain away as Anakin kept flexing his mind shield and purging the Dark side’s influence on him. His limbs grew weak and he fell to the ground as the dark side flowing through his limbs started to fade and his nearly paralyzed arms and legs went limp under him.

  He lay on the ground twitching for a few more seconds as he wrestled to keep purging the influence of the Dark side on him.

  As soon as the Dark side was fully drained from him, he immediately fell unconscious, his body finally able to register its complete exhaustion once it was no longer thrumming with the dark side pulsing through it.

  — — —

  Anakin opened his eyes to find himself floating in a container of liquid with a mask strapped to his face. He was only wearing what felt like underwear as the fluid he was in brushed over his skin. He felt it sooth him and ease the pain from all of his burns as he breathed in through the mask on his face.

  Everything felt so… calm. He closed his eyes and flashes of violence and bloodshed flashed by in his mind. No, that had been the beast. It hadn’t really been him. He would never do anything like that. They were all enemies, they were trying to kill them. What did it matter if he was more brutal in how he killed them?

  But it wasn’t him, but the beast. He didn’t have to feel guilty or remember what he’d done.

  He floated forward and put his hand on the glass at the edge of the circular glass tube that he was floating within. Everything outside was blurry, but it looked like it was white and clean, like a clinic of some kind.

  He let himself float back into the center of the tank, and closed his eyes again as he felt the bacta all around him healing him and soothing him back into unconsciousness like a lullaby.

  — — —

  Anakin woke up and fell asleep several more times, until eventually there was a man standing there outside of the tube. A pair of metal droid arms reached down and grabbed him under the armpits and pulled up upwards out of the tube of bacta. Anakin shivered as he was placed down onto a cot and the medical droid checked him over before draping a warm blanket over his dripping body. The mask was removed from his face by a pair of droid arms and disappeared somewhere above him. The back of the cot was raised so that he could see a man standing there staring at him.

  “Jedi master Dooku?” Anakin asked, probably not as concerned as he should be. He was still relaxed from the bacta, like he would melt into a soft puddle if he stopped paying attention to what was going on around him.

  “Indeed. You did quite a number on your body back on Tatooine. I’m glad that you’ve finally recovered enough to speak. You may call me Count Dooku, I am no longer a Jedi.”

  “Finally?” Anakin said, the buzzy light feeling in his head clearing slightly as he realized what Master Dooku said, “How long have I been out?”

  “Roughly three months. You are lucky that I have access to medical facilities as good as this one to treat you as well as a good supply of bacta for it. The droids assure me that it would have taken much longer for you to recover otherwise.”

  “Where are we?” Anakin said and glanced around at the room, “What happened?”

  “I saved you after you collapsed back on Tatooine. It seems that the Jedi that you met before wanted to kill you. Corrupted by the dark side, I believe they said as I fought them off as my droids loaded you into my personal ship. This is a droid run facility that I’ve had commissioned for… reasons that are not important to you right now. We are the only two living beings in this place at the moment. I had expected you to be a little more… irrational when you woke up. You seem remarkably calm considering how deeply you drew on the Dark side.”

  “Why didn’t you kill me? If you knew that I was corrupted by the dark side?”

  “It would be a waste, for a boy with as much potential as you to die. I can see that my gamble was successful, given that you have not lunged for my throat once in this whole conversation or started yowling like an animal.”

  Anakin shifted underneath the sheet draped over him, “I suppose I did do all of that. I…”

  Another fact registered in his mind and he stopped. Three months? Oh no! It had already passed the galactic new year. Slarena and mom would already be gone. He had missed the meeting.

  But Slarena had promised to keep Shmi safe, and Anakin thought that she was competent enough. And for some reason he trusted her to keep her word. He resolved himself. He’d go to the place she mentioned next year. He just had to make it until then and he’d be with them again.

  “Are you alright? You seem distracted,” Master- No, Count Dooku said.

  “Sorry. Just thinking about what happened,” Anakin said, “Master Druman was right. I wasn’t ready. As soon as something horrible happens I turn to the dark side and go on a rampage. I really should have just meditated some more.”

  “There’s a reason why Padawans are sequestered inside of the temple until they’re ready. At least part of the reason. I highly doubt whatever you did could be solved with a few more years of training. But no need to touch sensitive topics. Why don’t we discuss the Jedi temple? It has been many years since I’ve been in that place.”

  Anakin talked about the Jedi temple as Count Dooku asked questions about how certain people were doing and how things had changed since he had left. He was a little aloof, but his face fell slightly as nothing that Anakin said seemed any different to how it had been when he left. Or at least that’s what Anakin assumed why he reacted like that.

  The conversation petered out as it appeared that Count Dooku had asked all of his questions.

  “So, what happens now?” Anakin asked, “After I’ve recovered fully? I’m sure the Republic and the Jedi will be after me after what happened. Probably Jabba too, I think I killed a lot of his mercenaries.”

  “I am still undecided. I had planned to keep you in an out of the way place like this until I’ve made arrangements for you to do otherwise. As you said you have many enemies now, and we don’t want to risk another incident like last time if someone upsets you too much. Or manages to actually hurt you, Force forbid. For now you will stay here in this facility. Is there anything that you would like to occupy you during your stay? I came here specifically to talk with you, I will be away on other business for most of the time after this.”

  “How long will I be here? Do you… want anything in return for your help?”

  Anakin was grateful to the Count, both for helping before and healing him. But this was a lot of effort just to help one boy, even if he was powerful in the Force.

  “Again, I’m undecided,” the Count replied, “It depends on how my arrangements go to return you to go somewhere more populated. A month or two at the minimum from now that you could leave this place. As for payment… Consider all of this as an investment in you. I’m building a faction of like minded people out here in the outer rim. I think you could be a very valuable member of it one day.”

  Anakin considered that answer before feeling relieved. That didn’t sound too bad.

  “Thank you, Count. I’ll do my best to pay you back. If it’s not too much trouble, I do quite like working on droids if you have some spares that I could work on. When I’m fully healed.”

  “Hm. Your file did say something like that,” Dooku said with a hum, “Very well, I’ll see what I can do. The medical droids will instruct you on how to send me a message if things go well. I will be staying here for another few days if you wish to speak with me further and if you are still awake.”

  Anakin nodded back in understanding.

  With that, the medical droid grabbed Anakin and lifted him up so only his toes were submerged in the bacta tank again. The droid reached around and strapped the face mask for air back onto him and lowered him back into the soothing bacta. The warmth and soothing sensation caused him to start drifting off to sleep again, the last thing he saw the blurry figure of the Count standing there watching him from the other side of the glass.