ℝ𝔼𝕊𝕆𝕃𝕌𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ ➵ o. kenobi {my only hope; book 3}

【 THREE 】

     ʟᴇᴛ'ꜱ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ꜱᴀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ꜱᴇᴇɪɴɢ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ ᴅᴏᴏᴋᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ ᴡᴀꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏꜱᴛ ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴀɴᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇꜱ. He looked nearly the same, with that bright white hair, swishing black cape, and face permanently set into a frown. Just looking at him brought black plenty of unpleasant memories--a lot of which involved Jobal, who I did not want to be thinking of right now--and I could tell Anakin and Obi-Wan were experiencing the same. Obi-Wan tensed beside me, and I felt Anakin's calm aura flicker with anger.

"This time, we will do it together," Obi-Wan muttered as Anakin began to pace angrily.

"I was about to say that," Anakin agreed.

As the three of us stared up at Count Dooku, who in turn glared down at us, I recalled what had happened last time we had fought him. It had just been Anakin and Obi-Wan then, and they had been absolutely pummeled by the man. From the stories I'd been told by the two of them (on countless occasions, might I add), Obi-Wan had nearly been crushed by a falling pillar, and Anakin had had his arm sliced off. The two had only been saved because Master Yoda himself had shown up to face off with Count Dooku. He'd retreated that day, but as I glared up at him now, he showed no signs of doing so today. Even if all three of us were against him, he would fight until his last breath.

Almost as if to emphasize my point, he jumped upwards, executing a perfect double flip, before landing a flight down from the balcony, just in front of us.

"Get help," Chancellor Palpatine said quietly. "You're no match for him. He's a Sith Lord."

As if we could. Nearly everyone was away from Coruscant--hours away from here. And even if there was anyone available to help on Coruscant, who could leave at the drop of a hat, they still wouldn't get here in enough time to make the battle. In just a few minutes, either Count Dooku would be defeated... or we would.

So, trying to preserve my confidence, I turned to the Chancellor, shedding my cloak, with a smile fixed on my face as I tried not to seem offended by his assumedly unintended insult. "Chancellor Palpatine, Sith Lords are our specialty."

"Your swords, please," Count Dooku interrupted, striding toward us menacingly. "We don't want to make a mess of things in front of the Chancellor."

Next to me, Obi-Wan also shrugged off his cloak, letting it fall to the floor next to mine. He stepped off the dais, pulling his lightsaber from his belt into his hand. I followed closely behind, backing him up, Anakin just steps behind me. "You won't get away this time, Dooku," Obi-Wan insisted, and his lightsaber flickered to life. He held it in front of him menacingly.

Anakin and I, on either side of him, also allowed our lightsabers to ignite. All of our faces washed in blue, we glowered at the Sith, waiting for him to move.

Count Dooku pressed a button, and a red blade opened from his signature curved lightsaber handle.

We didn't allow him any time to prepare himself. As soon as his lightsaber was fully ignited, we charged, forming a small triangle around him to cover him from all sides. We attacked quickly and efficiently, but Count Dooku was good at defense. He spun in a circle, moving his lightsaber so quickly to defend each of our blows that I could barely see it.

"I've been looking forward to this," he said with a sadistic grin as the fight momentarily slowed down. His eyes flickered between the three of us, and I gripped my lightsaber even tighter, trying to stop myself from sucker-punching him right then and there.

Anakin seemed just as on edge. "My powers have doubled since the last time we met, Count," he bragged.

"Good!" Count Dooku grinned. "Twice the pride, double the fall."