Chapter 91: Confrontation
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
More of poor Annie's perspective. The struggle is real.
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She was hanging on by a thread and she knew it. Annie Skywalker had never been the best Jedi Knight. She was rash, reckless, and all around a loose cannon. She was an excellent combatant, but there was more to being a Jedi than just being good at fighting with a lightsaber, as her Master had tried to drill into her head many, many times.
Her self-control was always lower than average, but right now it was practically nonexistent. Part of her knew that the safer option was to go after Dooku and kill him first and foremost. To remove him from the board, but also to stay far away from Tylo and Padme so long as she wasn’t in control. But… that part of her ultimately loses the battle with her impulses, which are telling her to go to them. Telling her she needs them more than anything right now.
… They would tackle Dooku together. Yes, that would work. Her and Tylo would be able to handle Dooku, and she would get a moment with him and Padme beforehand. This was fine. This was perfect.
KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI!
“Take me to Padme and Tylo. Have the troops funnel Dooku and his droids in our direction.”
Rex hesitates only briefly before nodding sharply and relaying orders. Annie doesn’t blame the Clone Commander for her hesitation, given everything that’s going on. In the end, she’s escorted towards where she can feel Padme and Tylo in the Force. Part of her is elated by this. Part of her is wondering if she’s making a mistake.
Though, as she gets closer, Annie feels a third presence with them. Muted and hidden compared to the more familiar presences of her lovers. Except… there’s something slightly familiar about this presence as well. Something that itches at the back of her mind and leaves her frowning as she glances towards Rex.
“Do Padme and Tylo have someone else with them?”
Annie’s trusted subordinate tilts her head to the side at that.
“One other, ma’am. An armored mercenary that seemed to be in the employ of Knight Vondin.”
Armored mercenary… how strange. Though, Tylo’s last calls with her and Annie had talked about his visit to Mandalore before he’d had to go radio silent for some reason. So maybe it wasn’t that strange?
The ship rocks a bit under their feet, reminding Annie that they were in the middle of a battle and she didn’t have time to worry about things like that. Fortunately, so long as Dooku was onboard this ship, he wouldn’t allow his fleet to destroy it. Unfortunately, Annie suspected that he might be here for her. Just how much Dark Side energy was she giving off in the Force if her eyes had turned ORANGE?
Regardless, they finally arrive at their destination. The door opens and the first person Annie sees is Padme. The brunette Nabooian Senator turns towards her, eyes lighting up with excitement and happiness that Annie knows is mirrored in her own expression. Except then her gaze sweeps from Padme to the man next to her… to Tylo Vondin.
KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI!
The compulsion causes Annie to gasp and before she knows it, she’s launching herself forward, blue lightsaber drawn and ready to cleave Tylo’s head from his shoulders. She’s too damn fast. His eyes are barely even widening as she moves, her actions empowered by the Force… and her immense connection to the Force making that empowerment incredibly massive.
For a moment, it really looks like she’s about to cut down one of her lovers in front of the other. She tries to resist of course, tries to pull herself back… but she barely even slows down as her blade angles towards Tylo’s defenseless neck. And then, out of nowhere… a pair of red lightsabers blocks her.
Tylo might not have seen her attack coming, but someone else in the room had been ready for it and even though Annie had moved faster than most would ever be able to react, this third party had been prepared to intervene… and so they had, successfully.
Staring into the unfamiliar helmet of the woman blocking her with red sabers in confusion for a second, Annie’s eyes flicker down to the handles… and widen in recognition as she snarls.
“Ventress!”
She should have known, but there was something off about Ventress’ Force Signature. It was no longer nearly as coated in darkness and rage as it’d once been. Not to say it was suddenly of the Light Side either, but it was far grayer than it had once been. That was why Annie had struggled to recognize it at first. But she would know those lightsaber hilts anywhere all the same.
Asajj Ventress, still disguised as an armored mercenary, simply tilts her head in Tylo’s direction, seemingly ignoring Annie entirely.
“Be on your guard, General. The Dark Side has ahold of her.”
Annie sees red, and not just because her face is still awash in the glow of Ventress’ sabers. Snarling, she forces the blade lock they’re in to break and steps back, hissing as Ventress continues to position herself between Annie and her lovers.
“What is this? Treachery?”
Padme speaks up, her brown eyes filled with concern as she hesitantly reaches for her.
“Annie, what… what’s happening to you? Why are your eyes…?”
Annie grits her teeth, her hand curling tighter around the handle of her lightsaber. She didn’t need this right now. She didn’t need them to be judging her… even if she had just tried to kill Tylo outright. Speaking of which…
“Annie. It’s not what it looks like. Ventress is with us now.”
Tylo speaks at her in a no-nonsense tone, showing none of the concern Padme is showing… and no judgment either, much to her surprise. Funny how the lover that the voice wanted her to kill seemed to understand her better than the lover who might survive this. No… what was she thinking? She wasn’t going to kill either of them. Just… just Ventress.
Yes, that would do the trick. She would kill Ventress and then Dooku and things… things would be better.
“With us? Tylo don’t be ridiculous. She’s a murderer and a Separatist Leader. She needs to die.”
“No, Annie. No one needs to die. That’s Palpatine talking. He’s in your head right now, drowning out your own thoughts. You can’t let him win.”
KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI!
Tylo… he knew? How did he know? No, it was probably obvious to someone like him, wasn’t it? She was a raging tempest of Dark Side Power in the Force at this point. And Palpatine…
“Palpatine was Darth Sidious. He was the Sith Master all along… and the Jedi Order was foolish enough to give him access to you when you were just a child. He messed with your mind, Annie. He turned you into a ticking time bomb.”
Annie brings a hand to her head. Tylo’s words make sense… and yet…
“He was… kind to me. He helped me get used to Coruscant when the Jedi r-refused to accept I was having t-trouble. He… he was like a grandfather to me. And they killed him!”
Logically, Annie knew Tylo was right. Palpatine had done something to her. There was no other reason she should be hearing his screeching voice in her head at all moments of the day at this point. No reason other than that he’d put it there, done something with the Force to make her… to make her into his weapon. His final weapon against the Jedi.
Tears streak down Annie’s cheeks, burning as she nevertheless snarls and points her blade at Ventress.
“If Palpatine was a Sith and Sith deserve to die, why does SHE get to live?”
But of course Tylo has more logical words to throw at that plea.
“Because she was never truly a Sith, Annie. She was just a tool that Dooku used to carry out his will until he no longer had any use for her. She was as much a patsy in this war as any of us. Everything… it’s all been the Sith’s doing. From start to finish, they’ve been playing us all against each other. Don’t let them win, Annie. I know of a method for cleansing someone’s Force Signature of the Dark Side’s taint. I’ve already started the process with Ventress. Let me do the same for you.”
Again, Tylo makes a lot of sense. His words are perfectly sound. But doesn’t he understand? Annie needs to kill someone. She needs to satisfy the voice in her head, just for a second. If it’s not Ventress, it’ll be Tylo. What’s one little sacrifice in the face of that possibility, right?
But before she can try to argue her side of things, the whole thing goes to shit. The doors behind her suddenly slide open and Annie’s instincts scream to dodge to the side as blaster bolts from battle droids come screaming in her direction. Her lightsaber deflects a few of them back towards their owners, while the rest are deflected by Ventress and Tylo, the latter of whom finally pulls out his own saber in the process.
Of course, the battle droids aren’t the problem. It’s who comes after them. Count Dooku, Sith Lord and Leader of the Separatist Movement, strides into the room looking just as stuck-up and haughty as ever. The former Jedi Master sweeps his gaze across them all, and from the spark of recognition in his eyes, he too notices Ventress’ distinctive lightsaber handles.
But he doesn’t pay his former apprentice any mind. In fact, he ignores everyone in the room… except for Annie herself. Turning to her, Dooku’s lips curl back into a smile as he beholds her trembling form for a moment.
“Skywalker… I’ve come to offer you a place at my side.”
For a moment, Annie doesn’t even hear the voice. She’s too stunned by Dooku’s audacity to bother listening to Palpatine screaming in the back of her head. Choking on her own spit, she points her saber in Dooku’s direction.
“You? Why the fuck would I ever join you?!”
But Dooku just smiles wider, an uncharacteristic expression on the normally dour Sith’s face. She decides she hates it; truth be told.
“The Jedi have assassinated the Supreme Chancellor. They’ve taken over the Republic. Just as I’ve always said, the corruption runs too deep for anyone to fix it from the inside. Which is why the Confederacy is the only chance we have for a truly free galaxy.”
This… this was ridiculous! Did he really think that was going to work on her?!
“Palpatine was a Sith! Your Master! You both were orchestrating this whole war together from the start!”
The accusation makes Dooku’s smile drop just a fraction of an inch. Finally, he lets out a chuckle.
“I won’t deny it. But with him dead and gone… we can change course. With the two of us working together, we can bring peace, prosperity, and most importantly of all, security to this galaxy.”
Annie’s mouth opens and closes in disbelief. Dooku, perhaps sensing she’s not quite on board, changes tack at the drop of a hat. His eyes swept back over to the others, who until this point had remained quiet.
“The Jedi have betrayed you, Skywalker. Even the ones closest to you have turned against you. They brought Ventress just so they could take you down. If you don’t side with me, what do you think will happen? They’ll want to contain you, to imprison you. You are of the Dark Side and-!”
With a screeching yell, Annie launches herself at Dooku, cutting him off mid-word and throwing herself into battle against him. His lightsaber snaps up, blocking her first few blows as he’s forced to backpedal under the ferocity of her attack. Behind her, she hears Tylo and Ventress moving forward, but there are super battle droids behind the first wave, and droidekas behind those.
None of the droids attack Annie though, instead letting her and Dooku move past them and down the hall, likely on his instruction. They do engage with the others, however. Annie will just have to trust Tylo to keep Padme safe, because right now Dooku is the greatest threat.
“I will NEVER join you, Dooku!”
“The Dark Side is strong in you, young Skywalker. You have already fallen over the precipice and into the abyss. You simply need to accept it.”
Annie howls and fights even harder. Perhaps Dooku is right. Perhaps it’s already too late for her. The Dark Side has its claws in deep and her eyes… heh, her eyes are worse than even Dooku’s, she realizes with some macabre amusement. The actual Sith Lord she’s facing right now doesn’t even have yellow eyes, the most common form of Dark Side corruption. Meanwhile, Annie’s are apparently burning orange according to Rex.
Why? Why would Dooku show no obvious signs of Dark Side Corruption while she’s neck-deep in this shit? There’s only one explanation that makes sense… he’s never truly embraced the Dark Side like she’s been forced to. He’s a Fallen Jedi, but not a real Sith Lord. And that means…
KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI!
A macabre grin spreads across Annie’s face as she redoubles her attack, drawing even more heavily on the Force than before. The Dark Side of the Force, of course, but still the Force, nevertheless. It’s been with her for her whole life, even when she didn’t know what it was. And it has always, ALWAYS had her back.
“You’re no Sith, Dooku.”
For the first time, the Count looks surprised… outraged, even.
“Excuse me?”
Annie sneers, her grin only growing as her voice turns silken and sinister.
“You’re no Sith Lord. Even now, you cling to your past. Even now, you haven’t been able to truly let go. You might have left the order… but deep down inside, you still consider yourself a Jedi. And I… I have an order from your master running through my head. Do you know what it tells me? IT TELLS ME TO KILL THE JEDI!”
With a roar, Annie overpowers Dooku’s defenses, her blade swiping through one wrist and then the other. She catches his red lightsaber in her free hand as he drops to his knees, suddenly handless with his neck between the cross of her sabers. He looks up at her, shocked and stunned by the abrupt turn of events.
Annie is just about to close the cross and relieve his head from his body when a voice calls out to her, however.
“Annie! Don’t!”
Looking back, she’s surprised to see Tylo and the others approaching. The droids certainly hadn’t held them up for long. Tylo strides forward, holding out a hand to her.
“Don’t kill him. It’ll only make things worse. Giving in to Palpatine won’t make him quiet down, it’ll make the voice louder.”
What? No… that wasn’t possible. It was already so loud. Tylo didn’t… couldn’t know what he was talking about. Looking down into Dooku’s eyes, Annie grinds her teeth together.
KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI! KILL THE JEDI!
She had a Jedi right here. Fallen, sure… but Dooku was undeniably a Jedi by Annie’s own logic at this point. She just needed to finish him. And yet… what if Tylo was right?
[X] Try to resist, listen to Tylo - 89%
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