𝗙𝗔𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗦 | anakin skywalker

✰ 40: his master commands it

Anakin and Akya glared at him.

"What do you want with us, Dooku?" spat Anakin, as they stepped out of the lift.

"With you, young Skywalker?" he said. "Very little: simply for you to watch her die."

Anakin ignited his lightsaber, taking a step in front of his wife. "I can't let you do that."

"Ah, but my master commands it," he said. "I came to this planet for this very purpose. For you both."

"I don't care," said Anakin. "You lay a hand on her, and I cut it off like you did mine."

"What spunk," he commented. "Senator, if you please."

The traitor smiled. "My pleasure, Count." He pressed a button behind him, and Akya and Anakin heard a mechanical whir. They turned around to find ten B2 battle droids walking toward them, five on each side. Akya ignited her lightsaber as they began encircling the couple.

"The girl first," commanded Dooku, and the droids aimed their arm blasters right at her. She gave a glance and a nod to Anakin, who returned the gesture, and the droids began shooting.

Moving around in circles while back to back, Akya and Anakin displayed exemplary skill in Form III, Soresu. They had adopted their rotation tactic from something their master had taught the both of them— strategically blocking every blast while looking for an opening to strike. As if in sync, both Jedi found one, slashing at a droid's head, and both fell, deactivated. Two down, Eight to go.

Their perfect rhythm helped them as the circle of droids closed in and the blasts became more frequent. But these Jedi had been trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi, and there was no stopping them. The B2 droids wouldn't get a shot. It seemed Dooku just watched them with great interest, while the senator next to him patently waited for Akya to be struck down. But even after ten minutes of blocking blast after blast, Akya and Anakin were still standing, and the B2s were not.

"Well done," said Dooku. Akya turned to look at him, panting heavily. Ten straight minutes of close, Soresu combat tired someone out. "You're quite skilled at lightsaber combat, Padawan. Much more skilled than young Skywalker was at your level."

Anakin pointed his saber at him. "Don't you dare—"

"Senator, can we take care of young Skywalker?"

The senator nodded as Anakin went full panic, scrunching his brows in concentration as his head turned side to side, lightsaber at the ready. The senator turned a dial on the control panel behind him and Akya heard the whir of a droid powering up, then the clank, clank of something taking heavy steps. Anakin raised his lightsaber to slash at the tall droid that walked up behind him, but he was stopped mid air by a heavy hand of the same model droid that had tried to take them at the elevator, the same one that had kidnapped Akya on Agamar. It pushed Anakin's lightsaber out of his hand and twisted his arms behind him, causing him to cringe in pain.

Akya took a step forward with her lightsaber, ready to strike, but with one smooth motion, Dooku pushed her away and slammed her against the side wall, hard. She turned off her lightsaber blade mid air and prepared herself for the impact, but nothing could have prepared her for that kind of pain. She couldn't stand up because her entire body hurt so bad.

The droid forced Anakin onto his knees and held his hands tight behind him, not letting him away. Anakin pulled and pushed, but nothing was getting him out of that droid's grasp. Akya rolled onto her stomach and crawled toward her lightsaber, finally reaching it. She took the hilt into her hands and slowly got up onto her knees, then up to her feet, stumbling a bit from the pain in her lower back. That was going to leave a bruise.

She took a step toward Dooku, glaring at him. "Why do you want me dead so bad?" she asked.

"Simply because my master commands it," he said, the same statement from before. He ignited his red lightsaber, holding it out to his side. It seemed to be his ready stance.

"And you don't ask questions?" Akya took another step, standing up straighter now.

"No."

Akya ignited her lightsaber. "Well, maybe you should." She took a big swing toward him, using wide, Form I strikes she'd learned long ago. They became useful against Dooku's smooth and simple blocks. She used her strength against his skill, but it wasn't proving successful. Dooku was older, wiser, and a hundred times more skilled than she was.

"Akya!" Anakin called loudly. She turned to face him, bending under one of Dooku's strikes, to find Anakin glancing from her to his own lightsaber down on the floor. She attracted his saber to herself with the Force then ignited it, blocking the Sith Lord's next blow with the power of two plasma blades.

Her efforts were ill-advised— even with two lightsabers, Akya's stances were no match for Dooku's and without help, she seemed to be out of luck. After minutes of quick fighting, Dooku had Akya cornered. She had dropped her own lightsaber and was only left with Anakin's. He had her backed against a wall, slowly pushing his lightsaber toward her while she pushed back with her blade, using the Force with her other hand to try and assist. It was here that she was going to die, wasn't it? It was here she was going to take her last breath at the hands of Count Dooku. Whoever his master was, he would get what he wanted, and Akya would die as another pawn in this drawn-out Clone War.

Suddenly, the elevator door opened.  Shots were fired from inside, one of which hit the Senator in the leg.  He knocked against the control panel behind him and hit something which deactivated the droid holding Anakin.  He attracted Akya's lightsaber to him and ran toward where Dooku and Akya were.  He jumped high and swung, but Dooku blocked him, meanwhile Akya was free from his strength, no longer pushed against the wall. 

Clones filed into the wide control room, followed finally by Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, who ignited their lightsabers quickly.  From the corner of her eye, Akya saw the senator urgently pull a lever on the panel behind him before being cuffed and taken away by Cody and another clone from the 212th.  She soon saw what the lever had done— numerous battle droids began filing into the room, causing a close quarters battle between them and the clones.  This room was surely not big enough for all this.

Once Dooku saw he was outnumbered, he began evasive maneuvers, backing himself toward the large window behind the control panel which revealed the night sky over the woodsy terrain of Kisorix.  Once he saw an opening, the cowardly Sith Lord pushed the two Jedi far away then jumped out of it.  Akya and Anakin looked up from their fall to see Dooku making his escape on a speeder.  They immediately lost sight of him in the trees, and turned away from the cracked window.

Anakin helped Akya up. She held onto his arm for support even after she was standing, partially because she needed it, and partially because she never wanted to let go of him again. "You did good," he told her. She gave him a weak smile.

Obi-Wan and Ahsoka walked through the chaos over to where the two of them stood. The droids in the room were slowly being deactivated, whether that be by a blast to the head or even just pure blunt force. The clones had it handled well. Obi-Wan looked over at them with a stern look. Akya couldn't tell if he was disappointed or just tired.

"I leave you with my Padawan for one day and this is what happens?" he said to Anakin.

Disappointed or tired? Maybe a little bit of both.

a.n.:

them switching lightsabers!!! I love my little details.  akya is about as skilled as anakin with two sabers.  meaning she doesn't do well.  lol.

I hope I wrote this well. im not sure if im the best at writing fights— especially lightsaber ones. I read that Star was book Brotherhood (which is so good I totally recommend) and that helped me a bit, there's a lot of action in it.

almost forgot to post! happy Thursday. love you!

don't forget to vote,

molly