Accismus⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.• Anakin Skywalker⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.•

61.

Before Sol could rejoin the battle, Anakin overcame Count Dooku. Sol noticed the similarities in Anakin's attacks to the few times they had dueled each other. With a focus on the wrists, just like how he ended their dual in the first Jedi Temple on Ahch-To, Anakin was able to lock Count Dooku's hands under his own arms. With a twist, Anakin sliced off the Count's hands in one swipt movement.

Count Dooku's wrists were nubs of exposed flesh with the smell strong enough to waft over to where Sol stood next to the window. It was a stench that a Jedi was used to as lightsaber wounds burned and seared at organic flesh. Sol watched with her hand on the railing behind her as the Sith fell to his knees, and Anakin took hold of the red lightsaber that flew out of Dooku's hands.

The white-haired man trembled as the events took a drastic turn. Fear overcame his dark eyes that stared up at Anakin, who crossed his blue lightsaber over Dooku's red one at the nape of the Sith's neck. A stuttering lip pleaded, and Sol looked at Anakin's face, knowing that their mission wasn't to kill Dooku. But in the case that they couldn't take him back to Coruscant for a trial, the Count would need to be eliminated. However, it wasn't the Jedi way to execute those who needed to face a jury and a court, and Sol didn't see why they couldn't put Count Dooku in bindings and take him back to the Jedi Council. This was not a dire situation.

'Good, Anakin, good!' Chancellor Palpatine cheered with a hearty chuckle. 'I knew you could do it!'

Sol cringed at the sound of the Chancellor's laugh. He had barely wiped the smile off his face since she was thrown out of the fight, and now that her vision had cleared, she saw how vibrant the man looked while bound to his chair. Never had a hostage looked so happy, and Sol couldn't stand to see it. While Anakin's shoulders heaved, and his glare seared through the Count, Sol pushed off the rail and made her way over to the commotion.

'Kill him. Kill him, now.'

Sol froze and Count Dooku's fearful gaze shot over to the Chancellor. The grin on the Palpatine's face was sly and Sol felt the familiar crawling feeling underneath her skin at the sight of it. He didn't even glance her way, nor in Count Dooku's direction, who seemed to exhibit an even more crippling fear. His gaze was solely on Anakin, who at first looked hesitant at the command.

'I shouldn't...'

Sol couldn't believe her ears. From beside the man who held the lightsabers at Dooku's neck, she looked at Anakin from the corner of her eye. She thought she would see shock, much like on her own face, at the Chancellor's demand. But the slight hesitation was withering away and Anakin looked as if he wanted to kill Count Dooku right here. Sol felt his desires in the Force, and his deep hatred for the Sith Lord was enough for Sol to want to look anywhere but at Anakin.

'Do it!'

Sol didn't know what to do, and she was scared at what might happen if she interfered. Anakin's hands gripped the lightsaber handles with such strength that Sol feared that if she reminded him that she was there, he would turn on her. She recognised the blaring red that ate away at his vibrant Force signature, as it was the same that she frequently saw in small flickers when he grew angry or felt threatened.

As Sol's hand raised and call for her own lightsaber, Anakin pulled his arms outwards to cut his blades through Count Dooku's neck. Sol took wary steps backwards as the head tumbled along the floor. She had seen severed limbs and heads before, but the fact that Anakin was at its core was what made Sol so uneasy. From behind him, Sol saw that Anakin's squared shoulders relaxed, as if in relief and pleasure at the killing of Count Dooku. It pained her to see a Jedi so delighted to kill, and it worried her that it had been Anakin's actions.

'I couldn't stop myself...' Anakin said, his senses seeming to have cleared. With a few blinks, Anakin dropped the red lightsaber he dared to hold and glanced beside him, noticing for the first time that Sol was nearby. He hadn't even sense her presence while he had been staring down at the man who he hated for so much. Dooku had threatened the lives of everyone Anakin held dear, and had taken his arm when he was just a Padawan. Anakin wanted him dead, and nothing else mattered in that moment.