Saga Dooku and Galadriel(finished)

Chapter 15

Gandalf quickly raised his staff and deflected the lightning. It really surprised him, such power didn’t belong to this world. The lightning was formed by anger and hatred. Saruman must taught her this.

From the lightning, he could feel the strength of darkness in the elf’s queen’s soul.

Just like he said, if the war against Sauron wasn’t reaching its climax, he would help her out of the abyss.

Saruman had succeeded. Even Sauron could not do this at his peak. Galadriel was one of most wise individuals in Middle Earth. She experienced countless battles and crisis, faced so many temptations but was able to resist them all, and now she fell into darkness, it was a memorable victory of darkness. Gandalf felt really sad about it.

Dooku still didn‘t say a word, he stepped forward to block Gandalf's path.
He hadn‘t met a worthy opponent since he came to Middle Earth, but this white wizard could be different than others.

Galadriel commanded the nature to completely blocked the escape route of Gandalf. She knew Dooku wanted to fight Gandalf. Or that, So be it, there was no reason for her to duel a Maia.

After the confrontation in Rohan, Gandalf was sure that he was stronger than Saruman. But this time, he could feel the strength of “Saruman” was more powerful than ever, so he knew he must be careful.

He waved his staff and summoned lightning to strike “Saruman”. When “Saruman” was using his power to deflect it, Gandalf rushed to his side, quickly pull out the sword then struck against him. Saruman was very weak on melee combat.

If this was really Saruman, Gandalf‘s tactic would work perfectly.

But he was Count Dooku, and the Sith Lord was waiting for this moment, he easily dodged Gandalf’s attack, then crimson flame immediately ignited from his elegant hilt, following an accurate stab. Gandalf dodged it and then infused the sword with most of his power so it wouldn’t be sliced to half by the crimson blade.

But Dooku did not try to touch Gandalf‘s sword, he just stabbed quickly against Gandalf‘s chest, belly and neck. The white wizard barely defended against them, he was so surprised, this "Saruman" was a great swordsmen. He had never seen such a elegant and deadly fencing skill in Middle Earth. Gandalf was no match for him in sword fight.

The white wizard, however, was not out of idea, he waved his staff and and pretended to lift Dooku’s weapons. Saruman won the first battle with this trick, and he would not let this work against him.

Dooku indeed quickly used Force to take away Gandalf's Staff. This was exactly what Gandalf wanted, however, he used his power to keep his staff in hand thenjumped away. After that, he started to cast spell to protect himself.

Dooku knew he was tricked, now Gandalf would never try melee combat again. He used his fully power to use Force Push and Force Lightning. It looked like Gandalf and his power was evenly matched. Dooku could not break the barrier in short time.

Gandalf was also clear that they were evenly matched on raw power, but the Sith Lord had superior attacking technique and swordsmanship. So he used all his power to set strong protection, wait to see is there any chance to counterattack.

Dooku got the upper hand but could not break the barrier in short time. None of his technique could penetrate Gandalf’s defense. If he tried to approach Gandalf, the white wizard would also slowly move away and launch counterattack. The battle looked boring, but in fact was more intense than the one against Saruman. He regretted that he didn’t launch his most fiercest sword attack when he got chance.

Dooku no longer used all his power to attack, he just kept pressure on Gandalf and try to move close to start a sword fight again. He drained the vitality from Saruman so he didn’t have to worry about his age and energy.
The battle could continue like this for a very long time.

But Count Dooku had a powerful ally aside him.

Galadriel finally finished his spell, Dooku also shot Force lightning at the same time. Attack against Gandalf came from from two directions, this joint force easily broke Gandalf‘s defense. Dooku then quickly grappled Gandalf's Staff from his hand and put his lightsaber on the exhausted Maia‘s neck. He still didn‘t lower his guard, only thanked Galadriel through telepathy.

"Gandalf, I hope you can understand and help me, we can forget about this meaningless battle." Galadriel asked Dooku to put down the lightsaber and chose to give Gandalf one more chance.

Conscience never left her heart, no matter how deep she fell into darkness.
She fell into darkness only because of her love of her people.

In fact, the Sith Lord was quite similar.

He left Jedi Order because of the tragic death of his padawan and many others. He intended to build a bright future so such tragedy would never happen again.

The white wizard shook his head. After all, he was not human, and would not abandon his discipline because of any emotion.

Fairy Queen sighed heavily and let Dooku to start drain his power.

She was clear that her path lead to darkness, so was Count Dooku‘s . But this Maia would never turn away from the light.

Darkness was willing to help her, gave her the strength to protect her people.
The light chose to stay away and do nothing, even disgusted of her sacrifice.

She chose sacrifice her own purity to avoid her people all met their doom. Was it really wrong at all?

She didn’t want to think about this again at this moment.

She wish someone could understand and support her at this time, well, the Sith Lord already did...

 

Chapter 16

After Galadriel drained part of Gandalf’s power to ensure her immortality, she still decided to let him go.

“I already tried and gave all the advices, seems like nothing helped. I can only wish you well now, my friend. "After thanked her, Gandalf left to support Gondor. The elf queen had fell into darkness, too bad he got more important task now..

The Sith Lord and the elf queen then left Middle-earth to start the plan of obliterating Sidious. Dooku taught her to use and other devices. No error is allowed this time.

Durge would help him in this battle and stop anyone from aiding Palpatine.
Greivous would lead an assault against Coruscant to attract the attention of the Republic and the Jedi, then they would sneak into Coruscant to confront Palpatine.

More importantly, Sidious would be very careful to use his power on Coruscant, once his true identity was exposed, then he would lose everything.

"But after his death, the Republic still need someone to control." Dooku was worried about it. They couldn‘t ruin their plan of the future to bring down Palpatine, only Jedi would do such thing. As Sith, they must think a way to bring them the greatest benefit. "Maybe I can use my wealth and influence, along with Force Persuade technique to let you go into the senate and make you the chancellor, as a different identity."

Galadriel was a good leader and had thousand of years‘ experience. All she need is to know the galaxy and grow reputation.

This would not be easy, Palpatine was a Naboo noble and had his master‘s advice. But Dooku had confidence because of his wealth and influence. Palpatine could make a little girl the queen of Naboo, why couldn‘t he let a great leader become the chancellor of the Republic?.

“Hello, Count Dooku. I know you want to learn about Sidious, and I can help.“ a mysterious voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"I think you must be Darth Plagueis?” Dooku remembered this was Hego Damask’s voice, he did expect such thing. Dooku told Galadriel he would tell her this Sith Lord‘s tale later.

"You want to ally with us to take your revenge?" Dooku didn‘t lower his guard.
“That‘s not all, his skill of manipulation would help him achieve the peak of power and wipe out the Jedi”Plagueis knew his apprentice well. “However, his lust of power will lead to unnecessary tyranny. Then the galaxy would unite to go against him. His empire will collapse after short reign, and once again let the Sith to annihilation. That‘s not what we want to see. "

"You are different, your first goal is to build an ideal future rather than fill your personal ambition, that is my goal as well. No wonder when I once thought to make you my apprentice." Plagueis had mixed feelings when he recalled it "Now it’s not too late yet, we can work together to achieve a common goal and complete the plan of the Sith. I‘m just a ghost now, you don’t have to worry about my ambition."

Dooku spent a lot of effort to know Plagueis before. He was truly different than many Sith. He was indeed wise and ideal, his death was a tragedy of the Sith. Dooku accepted his help after discussed with Galadriel, of course, if they got chance they would bury this Sith completely as well.

"This woman is no Sith she did not understand your teaching, if you just take her as your lover it‘s fine." Plagueis used telepathy to communicate with Dooku along. "I didn’t ask you to kill her, Count Dooku, but do not think about give her too much power, and you must not hesitate if she betrays you."

Dooku was telling Plagueis‘ tale to Galadriel, he nodded after heard these words but didn‘t take them seriously. He would not kill Galadriel because they were going to rule this galaxy together. As for Plagueis, he belonged to the past rather than the future... Such a powerful and cunning Sith was too dangerous, even if he was just a ghost now...

Coruscant’s night was quiet, because the storm was coming.

Since Palpatine killed Plagueis in his sleep, Palpatine had never slept again, he just used meditation to recover energy.

"My apprentice,” The gloomy cold voice suddenly spoke in his mind,"Let‘s end this. "

“You finally revealed yourself, old fool? Now I am the most powerful Sith in the galaxy, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, and the mastermind behind the Confederation. What do you have, old food? You are just a wandering ghost now and never pose a threat. "Sidious was trying to prove that he was not afraid at all.

"But why are you hiding you fear?" Plagueis continued slowly,“ as the chancellor of the Republic, you were under the protection of the Sith’ mortal enemy. You also have to rely on others to control the Confederation. A tiny mistake could let you lose everything and become both side’s enemy. You have too much, and you are afraid to lose them. I have nothing, so I have no fear. Such ghost state meant nothing to me, my goal was corporal immortality. "

Sidious never thought of that before, and could not reply.

"Treachery is the way of the Sith, but Darth Bane created the Rule of Two to let the desire of killing master to help the Sith grow stonger, and it went well for nearly a thousand years. I thought it was the time to abolish this rule because we would become the most powerful Sith Lords in the history and rule this galaxy forever. Unfortunately I overestimated you.“ The Muun sighed, "Right now, you are only one step before the highest power. I think you don’t want to see the revenge of the Sith become dust more than anyone else. So, let us settle this out privately, this is the best choice. "

He asked Palpatine not to use his political power, it looked laughable.

However, Palpatine had to admit that if Plagueis really used all the methods to go against him, his true identity would indeed be exposed even if he won against the Muun. Then all would be lost, all his power and the grand plan of the Sith. Destruction because of power play, such tragedy had happened in the Sith’ history countless times. After thousands of years of planning, after years of preparation, the grand plan could not be ruined. So he had to agree with his master.

He decided to see his dark prophets to discuss the plan. However, he found that their ability was stripped by Plagueis and could not get any useful information.

He was so powerful and intelligent, but right now he could only follow his enemy’s rule. Only Darth Plagueis could make this.

At this time, his apprentice, Darth Tyrannus requested to contact him: "My master, the leaders of Middle Earth understood your strength and were willing to accept your rule." Sidious saw a tall blond woman dressed in white and stood bsdie Dooku. He was keep looking at the woman.

“Greivous was also attacking the Republic to further weaken the Jedi. "

Dooku was a pawn in his eyes, he would be replaced by the Chosen one. And now he even had a crush on some woman. Sidious decided to call him here and manipulate him to bring down Darth Plagueis.

"Good, Lord Tyrannus," Sidious put a smile on his face, "I need you come to our meeting place in Coruscant as soon as possible ..."

 

Chapter 17

The gold spaceship flew toward the capital of the Republic, the Silver planet: Coruscant.

The Clone War had started long ago, but leaders of the Confederation could land on the capital of the Republic, this was really ironic.

Dooku already made good arrangement. He was ready to defend against the attack of Sidious. If the ship was hit, he would hug Galadriel and use Force Flight to escape from the ship, it would be a bit awkward, but she had not been able to master this skill yet. Before departure, she asked him to marry her and also specifically agreed to let her share his property, including Sereno. That did make him... quite pleased.

Once they became couple, the relationship would be even more inseparable. In fact, he had been considering it, just thought she would not agree.
Anyway, they landed safely and not longer need to worry about such awkward thing.

Dooku with the Fairy Queen walked down from spacecraft with confident smile on his face, Dooku’s voice was slightly trembling, "Our time will come soon." Then he focused on sense Sidious‘ presence. After all, in front of such a powerful and cunning Sith Lord, it would be a very tough fight.

They carefully went into the abandoned buildings, the usual meeting place of the two Sith Lords. A shadowy figure came out to greet them.

"Lord Tyrannus, can you tell me about the who this lady is?" Palpatine, also Darth Sidious asked calmly.

Before Dooku could reply, Sidious already dew out his red lightsaber and stab against Galadriel‘s chest. Obviously, he had already known about the Count‘s plan and wanted to use Galadriel to threaten him.

The elf queen could do nothing against it. However, a burly figure came before her and blocked the attack, Durge had been sent here before Dooku arrived. Even a powerful Sith Lord‘s lightsaber thrust could not do much harm to him, his wound quickly recovered.

It was not too difficult for Sidious to take down Durge, but he had to deal with Dooku at the same time. Dooku rapidly released series of thrust against him, Sidious dodged them all and started counterattack. It seems to protect the woman, Durge would not be involved in this battle unless he tried to attack Galadriel.

Sidious did not complain about the seemingly unfair fight. When has being Sith ever about being fair? He knew Dooku had some plan against him so he decided to beat him then use him against Plagueis, but he underestimated the count. Facing Dooku‘s thrusts. Sidious jumped quickly to dodge and launch attack. The battle between master and apprentice had started.
Sidious had controlled most of the galaxy, but before he truly became the emperor, his powerbase was not stable. He was afraid to expose his true identity and didn‘t use the 501st legion. His master Plagueis was also affect them from being used.

Before Dooku learned from Plagueis that Sidious was mostly a Ataru practitioner and mix other styles in the fight. His moves were often extremely hard to predict. Even to Dooku it was hard to match with such style in the beginning. Fortunately, Dooku was extremely familiar with Ataru, he could still defend against Sidious‘ attack. After all, he was a great swordmaster, so he soon adapted method to counter Palpatine’s attack. He used Makashi’ footstep to move quickly, along with a few Soresu’s skill to defend against Palpatine’s attack, at the same time, his fierce thrusts would keep pressure on Palpatine and prevent him from jump over.

After that duel against Yoda, Dooku tried to figure a way to defeat Ataru users with strong Force. He no longer release attacks quickly like the last fight, otherwise Ataru users like Yoda would easily dodge them. He now didn’t rush to make moves, but let the enemy move first and anticipated out their track then thrust out. Dooku. When Sidious stabbed, Dooku would try to deflect or dodge. When Sidious jumped Dooku would try to attack his lower body. If he tried to slash, Dooku’s thrust would be quicker than that and force him to defend. No matter how Sidious try to mix all the styles, he had to rely on Artau’s mobility. Sidious’ skill on Ataru was not as good as Yoda, and his body wasn‘t so small so he could not dodge that easily like Yoda. As long as they did not meet head to head with the power of the Force, Dooku could handle everything in a sword fight and even could gain the upperhand. He already realized that Sidious’s skill on lightsaber was not superior than him. He just didn’t know anything about it. Thanks to Plagueis, now he had a chance to win.

Dooku’s other hand also released rapid Force attacks once he got the chance. His goal was to distract Sidious and not give him the chance to use Force Lightning. He also kept short distance with Sidious to ensure his lightsaber would make threat. His skilsl on the Force and Lightsaber were great and he no longer had to worry about age after he drained Saruman’s power.

After the ambush failed, Sidious was using his mixed style and various Force techniques to fight against Dooku. He was also clear about Dooku’s lightsaber skill, so his tactic was to find a chance and use Force Lightning with both hands, it would kill him in seconds. Glad his greatest threat Darth Plagueis was cloaking the mind of the people on Coruscant, prevent them from sensing this fight, such skill would cost him dearly, soon he would totally perish.

This battle could go on forever like this.

Galadriel could only see afterimage of red lightsabers and two extremely fast shadows. Although she hadn’t joined the battle yet, she could feel the devastating power from the two Sith Lords. She must begin her spell now. The elf queen started to meditate and sense the action of the Sith Lords, trying to breakthrough ...

After the lightsaber battle continued for a while, Palpatine’s move suddenly started to slow down, several thrusts almost hit her. This was especially bad for a Ataru user because its advantage was mobility.

It was not caused by himself, Although he was over sixty now, but the Dark Side of the Force greatly increased his pace, something must be affecting him.

This woman was casting Force Slow!

He used Force Push against Galadriel but the elf queen dodged it. Sidious had to take risks, he released Force Lightning with one hand, but was again Durge came out and took it, the deadly power immediately let let him lost conscious.

Dooku took the opportunity into thrusts and gained further upper hand, Sidious had no chance to attack the elf again. As long as Galadriel continue to slow down his speed, Sidious’ demise would come quickly. His Makashi style became more and more deadly, didn’t even give Sidious chance to take a breath.

"Beware of that woman!"

Dooku heard Plagueis‘ voice, he thought the Muun was trying to trick him.

He trust Galadriel completely now. The Sith Lord, in fact, still had some traits of the Jedi.

Soon, Sidious finally could not hold anymore, the elegant red lightsaber immediately penetrated to his chest and killed the Sith Lord. Dooku felt joyful and so relieved. Force Lightning suddenly ambushed him and he immediately fell to the ground.

"This moment has finally arrived." Galadriel gave the Count a smile, but didn‘t stop her attack. "I must thank you for your teaching and your trust, so I could have such opportunity."

"Oh, I must also tell you that after I drained Gandalf‘s power, I could cast a devastating spell and shoot lightning at the same time." Galadriel said with a soft tone, but the Force lightning got even stronger.

The entire building began to shake, and it seemed that her spell will soon complete.

After such a fierce fight and ambushed by Force lightning, Dooku could barely speak, his eyes were filled with fury and pain, he suffered betrayal again.

"Both of you will be buried here." Galadriel grinned, "So you will never threat my people again, No, that is not enough, we will be the ruler of this galaxy. "
Galadriel then stopped, her lightning and her spell would soon raze this building.

Her reason told her she should leave Dooku alive, without his influence and knowledge, it would be nearly impossible for her to become the ruler. But she didn’t want to continue to share power with this Sith and would not give up such opportunity.

She had secretly recorded Dooku’s agreement to rule Sereno with her, if she could win his property, it would help even more.

She could handle everything, yes.

Unfortunately, not everyone agreed with that, and one of them could change the situation.

Darth Plagueis.

Although he was not directly involved in the struggle, but he saw the situation clearly.

He overestimated Dooku and thought the count could handle this, just like Dooku overestimated this woman.

Is this Jedi‘s foolishness? But Sith let personal desire ruin everything , wasn’t it equally foolish?

Jedi and Sith were both too extreme, and it was their fatal flaw. Among them, only a real wise man could see this.

No, not now, Sith’s grand plans would not be destroyed by this woman. She could not rise into power just by herself, not to say create a stable new order.

Sidious was too power hungry, and he was already dead, Dooku was too idealistic, if this continued he would be died soon. As a ghost, Plagueis himself would perish soon, he must find a way to save the Sith.

The best way…was to allow them to start over, give them another opportunity to cooperate.

The Sith never sacrifice themselves to help others.

But this situation, in order to save the Sith from extinction, such act was necessary.

Plagueis used all his strength to manipulate the midi-chlorian and created a special storm and affected the three individual‘s body. Sidious would resurrected soon, Dooku was healed, both of their memories about this scheme would be erased soon.

The price was the eternal death of Plagueis.

This wise man sacrificed himself to saved the Sith. Unfortunately no one else knew it.

The storm also let Dooku lost the vitality he drained from Saruman.

Galadriel was about to finish, but the power inside her body suddenly stopped to follow her order. She was forced to stop the spell.

Count Dooku immediately pushed her away then put the lightsaber on her white neck.

He hated to betray others, and hated to suffer betrayal.

His most trust, “ideal” ally committed the most foolish mistake of the Sith at the crucial moment.

Galadriel’s blue eyes were staring at him, even at this moment, she never considered to beg for forgiveness.

Now Dooku knew her true feeling of him, she would not hide it anymore.

But moments after, Galadriel hung her head low and spoke out "Please forgive my people, all of this has nothing to do with them."

That’s what Dooku liked of her.

In fact, although he never did anything to harm her, but thinking about what he did to many others, maybe he didn’t have the right to accuse her of anything.

Perhaps forgive her ignorance, at least to let her live ...

But she had to pay the price of betrayal...

The Sith Lord nodded and took a deep breath, then used Force Choke on the Fairy Queen. At the same time, he closed his eyes.

After she lost consciousness, he put the Galadriel into his ship and ordered the droid to send her back to her home.

Moments later, Sidious woke up, Dooku also forgot everything about Galadriel and the fight against his master.

As usual, the Sith Lords had a conversation over their grand plan, then Dooku took another ship and returned with Durge..

Soon after, he received a letter from Galadriel. Dooku no longer remember her, while the name brought him some familiar feelings.

Count Dooku:

Although I really don’t want to say it, but I must thank you for help saving me and my people. Without the right patch we would never be able to survive through such. I could sense that your galaxy‘s forces no longer threat us, it is a huge relief.

I really didn‘t like you. I hate to see someone being smarter than me and keep telling me what to do, even if they are so polite. But I must admit that you are mostly right, and necessary to let me know. After I returned to Middle-earth, nobody is so intelligent and would dare to point out my flaw or guide me. They only want me to guide and teach them. I miss you a little bit. Of course, I would never tell you such thing if it isn‘t because you won‘t let anyone else know.

You really taught me a lot. I would not learn those from Middle-earth, not even from the Valar. You also pulled me back when I lost myself after fell into darkness. I finally learned the way to balance light and darkness. As a leader, this is extremely valuable . Those fights were also quite memorable. Perhaps I would never have such interesting tale ever again.

I appreciate your ideas, your guts to change your fate and your trust among you ally. If there could be another chance, perhaps I would not be so stupid. Unfortunately, it was all over.

I think ...it’s…too late… to say anything else(many marks of smearing here), I just want to leave a final piece of advice: Do not overly trust your allies, your trust could turn them against you.

Your former ally, Galadriel of Lothlorien. "

Dooku read the letter carefully and tried to recall his memory of her, the feeling of her was mixed with admiration, love, fury and a bit of contempt. He tried to recover his lost memories, but could remember nothing.

Well, so be it. He had to finish the task of Sidious, kill Obi Wan and corrupt Anakin, perhaps after that, he should give the lady a courtesy reply to know what happened between them.

(The End)