By My Side

Chapter 25 - Plans

Anakin finds himself in binders, seated in a chair in a... questioning room, he suspects, across from Dooku. He doesn't really know what he thinks about this. It's hard to tell whether this is a set-up, a trap. "I'm impressed you found time to see me so fast," Dooku replies, dryly. "This is an unexpected situation, and not an opportunity we can afford to miss."

"What?" Anakin queries, "You plan to take out Sidious now?"

"Soon," he replies, "We will first need to ensure he cannot stop us."

It's obvious enough that Dooku and Sidious are planning to betray one another. It's less clear, though, who's telling the truth, if either of them are. This requires a level of secrecy and backstabbing that Anakin has always loathed. Jedi encourage honesty. Anakin does, too, and he thought everyone else was the same, until... he didn't.

"What is it you intend to do?" Anakin inquires, leaning forwards. At the very least, he must know this.

"We will gather the information we need," he replies, withdrawing two devices and putting them on the table. "They will record what you need. One transmits to the other."

Anakin's eyes narrow. "I know what you are playing at," he accuses, "You will try giving me the information I need, then you will turn it over to Sidious as a reason to eliminate me? Out of fear of me replacing you."

He looks mildly amused. Anakin holds his ground unflinchingly, even if talking to Dooku is hard. Dooku hasn't... hurt him yet this time, short of when they were fighting, but that doesn't erase the memories. "I have no fear of you 'replacing' me, Skywalker," he replies, "You lack the skillful leadership required for my role. You are too young for it."

He can't help that the still-child inside him protests vehemently, lashing out. "Try me," he retorts instead. He is not young. He might be only twenty, perhaps barely twenty, he doesn't know his date of birth – his mother was too sick when he was born, and on Nal Hutta all time blurs together. It's a place in the gutter, far cut off from the outside, apart from the normal galactic calendar, because everything is different with Hutt's longer lifespans – but he isn't young. He has seen far more of the galaxy than most people ever could. He's done things that no other Jedi has. Things he doesn't even understand.

"I know what you are capable of well enough, Skywalker," Dooku replies, "Sidious has told me everything about you."

"Why? So, you can help turn me?" That actually makes far more sense than Anakin wants to think about, how Dooku tortured him every chance he had. Of course, he did. Pain fuels the Dark Side.

"I fear my master is losing sight of the Plan," he continues, "I know enough of you to know you would never do the same."

Why is he even surprised about that? "You both want me," Anakin deduces.

"I recognize an asset when I see it," he replies, "I have seen your power."

"You fear it," Anakin says – he has felt that, too, the slight prickle of unease. "How could you hope to control me, if I embrace the Dark Side?"

"I know everything about you. I know your attachments are your greatest weakness."

He tenses instantly at the implied threat against his family. It's instinctive even if he doesn't mean to do it. That, of course, is what the Sith is talking about.

It takes a ridiculous amount of effort to forcibly relax himself. "I am loyal to the Jedi and the Republic," Anakin replies. "That will never change."

"You must know how the Jedi have fallen from the path they claim to cling to, but that is not why I have brought you here."