71 V.1-C.71│Knighthood I│

Within the Jedi medical center.

John Doe was peacefully sleeping within his comatose state and was all alone, isolated from everything and everybody else that needs medical care.

If someone who was Force-sensitive and is trained within the Force were to be here they would notice something was off. A pull that indicated that something was using the energy within their area but no one was here to witness this event.

It was also not powerful enough to alert anyone of its presence.

John Doe within his comatose state was actually starting to stir. Everything about him had been documented by the Jedi, from his appearance, to medical abnormalities and even any scaring he has so they could better identify him in the future.

That is if he escapes because for all reasons John Doe may very well be sent back to Tatooine for some form of execution.

The more vocally bloodthirsty subjects of Tatooine would certainly want something like that and the senate would properly agree.

Eyes opening, heavy breathing and feeling weak all over, John Doe leaps to his feet and scrambles around the room while being confused at his restraints.

They were limiting him but it was not something he would usually be unable to get out of with some help from the Force.

Breaking things as he tries to regain his bearings he is slightly intoxicated with all the drugs pumped into his system.

'Where am I?' John Doe thought to himself as he could see through his blurry vision that the place he was currently within had alot of weird equipment. Looking towards another corner there was even a bacta tank, something that was incredibly expensive to have.

Not that the price all that mattered to John Doe, he could basically get away with having anything he wanted, free of charge of course thanks to his gifts.

Stumbling around John Doe drags himself successfully outside of the facility and is somehow unnoticed throughout the temple. It was if he was coated in some sort of invisibility that cloaks him from the view of the Jedi.

A long walk did John Doe have to go through as he was guided by an alluring voice spread throughout the Force, calling to him quietly and softly as if it was his salvation. He began seeing things, hallucinations as if high on drugs because he was and a combination of the effects from the self imposed poisoning.

Now he was stable enough to go towards his lord.

His master, of whom had taken him in and cared for his wellbeing but also the cruelty he had been taught and become accustomed to. 'Master.' He thought within himself.

Now exiting the Jedi temple free from his current captors he makes his way towards the senate in his delirious stat, paying no mind to any bystanders he hurriedly pushes them over while making his way restrained.

Restricted as he is, it would seem that this didn't stop him from movement and was quite skilled in maneuvering himself towards the senate.

"Master!" John Doe starts to scream out loud but everyone out late at night keeps a distance from the mad man. "Master!"

John Doe repeatedly calls out and is stopped by some guards outside the senate building. After a while Palpatine is informed of the disturbance and is called over to see that his captured subordinate had how somehow escaped.

To deal with him, Palpatine decides to bring him in as quietly as possible before he creates even more of a ruckus drawing attention towards him and possibly connecting to himself.

John Doe is brought before his master, Darth Sidious.

"Master! You have come for me." John Doe said while in restraints that had been reinforced and currently being held back by the red guard, Palpatine had created.

"I see that you have come in quite the desperate state." Palpatine considered his options about what to do with the man.

"Master, I have successfully done what you have said. I have freed the Hutt known as Jabba." John Doe practically spits all over the floor with drool coming from his mouth. Through willpower alone and maybe perhaps the Force does he still stay conscious and sane enough to speak semi-coherently.

"I have heard of your supposed success and of your failure as well." Darth Sidious is reminded of this fact every time he looks at the pathetic worm on the floor.

"My Lord! I am sorry that I was unable to fully do everything you had told me to do." John Doe continues.

'It is best I safely dispose of this garbage.' After having considered his options he decided it would be best to be rid of him but he usually doesn't take care of the dirty work himself and would get someone else to do so.

"No, of course I would not punish you for such a flaw. I think, no I believe it would be best for you to go on another mission." Palpatine decides that sending the man on a suicide mission would be for the best.

Dead at the hands of another, and who better than the young Skywalker. He had started to become quite the nuisance to his plans, not that they still weren't going his way, it was just he had become more petty and started to develop a desire to take him as a potential apprentice for his replacement of Darth Tyranus.

Darth Tyranus was after all not fully committed to the dark side, not fully committed to him so it would only make sense to get rid of him as well.

Given that the young padawan had dealt with his agent before and had successfully apprehended him, Palpatine thinks it would be best to put the boy to the test. He wouldn't let his agent go without further empowering him a bit more to give him an edge against the opponent he had not been able to overcome.

'A special ritual to transform my agent into a walking suicide bomb ready to go off at my command.' Palpatine thought insidiously and laced with malicious intent decided it was time to put the boys character to the test.

Would Anakin kill his agent if forced into a position like that or would he refrain and get himself and others harmed because of his hesitation. Because the Jedi would tell him to do so.

Working two-fold this would bring Anakin closer and closer to wanting to leave the Jedi order and potentially easier to persuade the boy to join him, but for now it would take alot of time to go so far.

"My agent, I think I have the right mission just for you." In his delirious state John Doe would be unable to recognize what Palpatine intends to do and would follow anything he says.

"My Lord! I would do anything for your forgiveness!" He rambles after Palpatine's order.

Palpatine's smile curls into a wicked grin reminiscent of a cheshire cat that was looking upon its prey. "Good! Good..." He taps his old fingers against the table he was sitting on and looking out towards what would become his.

'No, it has already become all mine.'

[]

The Jedi temple had been alerted to their escaped prisoner.

It wasn't exactly chaos because the Jedi preach against it but that didn't mean that the temple wasn't in a state on unrest because of the potential danger.

John Doe having escaped had given the Jedi another wake up call that would go unnoticed yet again. The droid attack on the temple didn't change them so why would this? Especially when it was only one person, presumably steeped in the dark side but still one person against the entirety of the Order.

In fact, a padawan was enough to apprehend him then why wouldn't another be able to do the same. Of course this is flawed logic given that the person who had done so was Anakin and he is tiers above them but no one would say that was the reason.

It was a very detrimental way of thinking but that is what the Jedi are. Fundamentally flawed.

"Anakin!" He had become aware of a visitor. In fact he was interested in the fact that he could in particular feel her presence amongst everyone else's much easier because he would have to use at least a bit more concentration to do so.

Smiling Anakin greet her back. "Aayla."

She had just gotten back from a mission she had went on. "You didn't tell me you were going!?"

"You also did not do so." Anakin replied.

Pouting she replies. "Well, I didn't know and had to leave on short notice."

"How surprising that is the exact same for me." Anakin countered but still had a smile on his face. "So how did your mission go then?"

"Well, I just had to rescue some people is all. The usual." She had some hints of pride within her voice.

As if reading her thoughts Anakin says. "Helped your people did you?"

Dumbfounded she replied. "How did you know?"

"A magician never tells their secrets." Even if he didn't exactly know how he could read her thoughts so easily himself.

"Is that right?" Aayla now has a cheeky grin on her face. "I think I could tell what you have been up to as well."

"And what is that then?" Anakin decides to take her up on her challenge. "If you manage to tell me anything of major importance I will reward with a favor, a singular favor."

Now even more excited than before, she asks. "Really?"

"Yes." Anakin confirms.

As if thinking she starts to dig deep into herself as she had noticed more and more the strange occurrences seem to enable and empower her more so then they did before. She was a decent Force-sensitive but through her connection with Anakin she had noticed an increase in capability.

Even more so, she had learnt to harness this unique foresight to see through the eyes of Anakin and was able to do so much more with it. Like look into some memories or events of the past, of course memories or events that aren't heavily guarded by Anakin's mental defenses.

Nonetheless she would be able to with time to be able to see even that but she doesn't know that and neither does Anakin, for now. All Aayla knows is that she could see into bits and pieces of his past.

"Lets see here." Aayla had her eyes closed. "What is this? Something about some kind of treaty between the planets of Tatooine and Naboo through an alliance forged by marriage?"

"I think you will have to try harder than that, that has become semi-public knowledge by this point in time." Anakin said.

Thinking it was unfair, because she didn't actually know of this she threw it to the back of her mind trying to make sure she won this little competition. Aayla thought the reward was too much to pass up on.

Digging even deeper she tries to see something and is able to make out something weird. 'What is this?' She thinks to herself before telling Anakin. "Well... Something that had recently happened before I have come back was... you were going through some type of surgery and..." Her face was starting to become furrowed.

"And you were in pain." Grimacing she continued. "In so much pain, but you continued going and..."

"I believe you can stop right there." Anakin breaks her out of her trance. 'How the hell could she see that?' Anakin was very confused but at the same time concerned for her well being. "Are you alright?"

Taking a breath she responds. "Yes, I am fine. I am just a little confused as to what I had seen." She knows that it had to be Anakin's view, his perspective and feelings at the time of what was happening.

"Do you have something to tell me?" She questions and looks him up and down then starts to notice something else. "When did you become taller yet again?"

"I have nothing in particular to say and yes I have become taller." Anakin replied making sure to try and continue to redirect the line of conversation she had done so herself.

"You are growing very fast." Aayla became distracted for a moment as she stared into his eyes before coming back down to earth. "Wait a minute. Don't try to take away from my question, I would like to know what I saw."

"You have seen something I would have liked for you not to see." Anakin replied as he felt compelled to not lie as if he could trust her more for some reason. He obviously disliked telling people everything about him, and it wasn't just because he was so greedy he would even hoard himself.

No, there are some valid reasons to do so. Especially the fact that according to his theory of being the combination of two souls to make an entirely new one comes into play.

"Well, I have seen it now so you should just spill the beans." Aayla said being concerned herself, not necessarily angry or upset.

'I guess it wouldn't hurt... I will only talk about myself going through the secret genetic manipulation though.' Anakin thought to himself considering his options. "Alright, I will tell you of what you saw was."

'Now that I think about it, how the hell did she find that out.' Considering that the Force was very well damn near capable of bending and shaping reality according to its wishes or the wishes of its users he shouldn't really be too surprised.

'I will look into this however.' Anakin thought to himself as he then came clean to Aayla about him going through an experimental genetic modification meant to make himself physically stronger. Of course there are other benefits to such a thing but the most prominent was the physical aspects.

He didn't want to go into the detail as such because he worried she would try to stop him because of the pain it could cause. In fact he may very well be unable to have children as a result.

"How horrible." Aayla said aware that he was not providing her with everything but was actually a little happy he shared this with her. "Thank you for trusting me." She smiled and did something quite bold.

She embraced him.

Surprised by the surprise hug, Anakin was a bit stumped because somehow even he didn't see this coming. His mind reading abilities had blanked out at this second as if the Force did this on purpose making sure to catch him off guard.

"Alright, alright." Anakin pats her back and soothingly replies sealing the next stage of their relationship that had been held back by Aayla's indoctrination by the Jedi.

It would seem however she has taken the next steps to embracing her emotions more, even if she was unsure herself what they were.