As soon as Padmé had spotted the young man over her husband's shoulder she had instantly gone on guard, panicking internally at the thought of someone discovering her and Anakin's relationship. However, something about the look in the boy's eyes as he stared dazedly at the couple seemed to quench her panic and blossom it into curiosity. Now that she studied him, she realized that she had never seen him before. He definitely wasn't a senator, and she was pretty sure that Anakin had introduced her to all his Jedi friends. Her thoughts were pulled into an opposite direction as Anakin gripped her shoulders, his blue eyes wild with concern as he raked her form up and down as if he would somehow be able to read her troubles as if she were a holobook. She knew Anakin never read her thoughts without her permission, so she took a bit of glee in being able to keep such a big secret from him. But as soon as the words passed her lips, words that she figured would send her husband fainting to the floor, as strong as he was, the boy in the background collapsed as if shot, his body folding in on itself as he sprawled bonelessly to the floor with a rattling thump. Padmé yelped instinctively, startling her husband to place his hand on his saber only to whirl around and hesitate when the pale-faced boy unconscious on the ground came into his line of vision.

Pain had radiated through the Force and Anakin's heart had stopped for several seconds, his mind thinking that it was his wife that had been hurt. However, it instead turned out to be the strange boy, Luke, who had materialized from thin air. Anakin had thought something had looked off about him, but the young man had been so insistent to his well health that Anakin had stupidly brushed it off as paranoia. All previous shock from Padmé's news faded as his legs gained a mind of their own and sent him sprinting towards the fallen man, his hands at Luke's neck immediately to check for a pulse. Padmé darted after him with equal concern, grasping the skirts of her dress and looking up to shout for help only to see that the other senators had long since left the room. Biting her lip, Padmé fumbled in her pockets for a commlink as Anakin swore under his breath at the thready pulse he found weakly thumping from the boy's neck.

"I'm calling a medcenter," Padmé explained in a hurry, her thumb already plugging in the emergency frequency. A gloved hand reached out and halted her movements, making the senator blink in surprise.

"There's no need. We were already meeting Obi-Wan at the Temple. I can take him to the healers there. Besides, Coruscanti medcenters are abysmal at treating Force-sensitives, half their stuff doesn't even work on us properly," Anakin sighed, moving to cradle the boy into his arms.

Padmé was instantly filled with more questions, "So he's Force-sensitive? How come you've never mentioned him before?"

"Cause I just met him today."

"So you don't know who he is...and you brought him to Coruscant..." Skepticism rang underneath Padmé's tone and Anakin scoffed.

"I've been keeping an eye on him, I don't think he's a spy or anything, just a confused kid who wants to know what the kriff is going on just as much as we do. He just...appeared on the ship in the middle of a fight with Count Dooku. He claims to be a Jedi, but there's something else about him...which is what we're bringing him to the Council for. Hopefully we'll find out who he really is and how he got here." Anakin looked down at the boy in his arms and scrunched his face in confusion, now noticing, under closer inspection, the severity of the singed marks on his clothing and skin.

"Does he have a name at least?" Padmé asked, choosing to trust Anakin's story despite how flimsy it was. Her husband's judgement of a person had been wrong before, but the boy did seem to be of no threat...

"Starkiller. Luke Starkiller. Never heard of him before, but his accent sounds Rim, maybe Tatooine if I was to guess," Anakin shrugged, trying not to cringe at the thought of his homeworld.

"From Tatooine to randomly appearing on a Separatist battle cruiser above Coruscant? That doesn't sound right, Anakin."

"That's what I'm saying. One second he wasn't there and the next he was. There's no easier way to explain it. But I'm not gonna neglect him a medcenter, the least we can do is keep him alive so we can figure out more about him," Anakin insisted, already moving towards the docking bay where a row of speeders sat in waiting.

Padmé was silent for a moment as she watched her husband move away. However, when a thought came rushing back to her, she shouted after him, nervous all over again. "Anakin. Anakin, wait!" she panted, out of breath with worry. "Did he...see us?"

Anakin lost a bit of color before swallowing tightly, a weak smile on his face. "I'll discuss it with him. He doesn't even know us, he has no reason to expose us."

Padmé sighed and Anakin moved closer, noticing the worry in his wife's eyes and moving to caress her cheek with his free hand. "Darling, angel, it'll be alright. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is that child you're carrying."

Padmé crossed her arms with a glare, shifting her gaze back and forth between her husband and the ever paling stranger. "I will not be left in the dark on this Anakin. I expect a full explanation when you get home. Any problem of yours is a problem of mine, pregnancy aside I am still a dutiful senator."

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry," Anakin bit his lip and leaned down to kiss her, pulling away with an apologetic smile that almost made Padmé feel bad. Almost.

She sighed. "Take him to the healers before he gets worse. All that adrenaline from your little reckless adventure earlier probably drained out of that boy faster than a round of shots at a smuggler's bar. Poor thing looks as if he's been tortured...or..."

"Electrocuted. I recognized the burn marks back on the ship, but he didn't say anything so I thought he was fine. I guess after years with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka I should've known better than that, huh?."

Brown eyes dilated in fear, Padmé's hands beginning to grip the fabric of her sleeves in a white-knuckled grip. "Go, don't let me keep you any longer. He needs help."

"I promise I'll be back. I love you," Anakin said with another peck to his wife's cheek before darting back off to the speeders and gently depositing Luke into the back seat.

"Stay safe, my love," Padmé whispered as she watched the speeder whizz off into the afternoon traffic.

◂◂◂

Luke drifted in the never-ending oblivion of his mind, only distantly remembering passing out in the halls of the Senate building, his mother and father feet away from him. He felt blessedly numb, as if on painkillers, and found his new world of unconsciousness to be a never ending void of darkness. However, it wasn't long before a stream of dusty light appeared out of the void and he found himself on a planet he did not recognize, his vision blurred just enough to disorient him.

Groaning, he attempted to walk forward to dazedly explore his dream world only to realize that his feet were floating a good few inches off the ground. Startled, Luke snapped out of his daze and held his hands up to his face in a panic. He whipped the limbs back and forth and tried not to hyperventilate as he realized that he was completely transparent. Rationally, he knew he wasn't dead, because if he had died, he would've become one with the Force and glowed blue as a spirit like Master Obi-Wan. Not only that, but he could still feel his faint connection with the conscious world, albeit faintly. His physical body was in a speeder of some kind, laid out in the back seat as the driver weaved manically through traffic.

So focused was Luke on the physical world that he didn't notice the clanking metallic footsteps approaching him until someone was walking through him. He gasped at the sudden stiff feeling that overwhelmed him, his heart beating erratically before he finally composed himself and managed to turn his body around. He blinked in surprise when he saw the same droid General from the Invisible Hand. He had those same piercing yellow eyes that had stared deep into Luke's soul as a clawed, metal hand had pierced into his chin. Luke shivered at the memory before regaining his thoughts, realizing that he was somehow seeing where Grievous had escaped to.

Given that he wasn't physically present and more trapped inside his own mind, Luke found the Force unreachable. He was unable to control his erratic pattern of thoughts as he strained to focus on what Grievous was up to. His mother's face flashed before him, her words of being pregnant and the feeling of Leia's and his own Force signatures inside her womb echoing around him like a mist.

"The planet is secure, sir. The population is under control," a tinny, monotonous voice stated, shaking Luke back to his situation as he saw Grievous talk to one of his droid officers. The officer was gesturing to a datapad which held a holo of what must've been the native population of the planet they were currently on. The Separatists were known for claiming planets and making its people bow to them lest they be destroyed by the massive droid army at the Separatists' control. Luke swallowed in anger, wanting to help but knowing that he could do no more than just watch in his current predicament.

Grievous was studying the holos and he answered in his raspy voice, the very sound of it making Luke's spine tingle in dismay. "Good. Where is the Separatist Council?"

"This way, sir," the droid said, gesturing with a metal hand towards a turbolift in the corner. So Grievous had come to meet with the leaders of the Separatist Alliance, no doubt about the current situation they were in with losing a major player like Count Dooku. Luke searched his memory for any and all information on the Clone Wars and briefly recalled this being a turning point in the war, it all looking like it was going to fall in the Republic's favor.

Which was exactly the way Palpatine wanted it to look. To give the Republic hope that the war was almost ending only to pull the wool off their eyes and create the Empire in its place, no true winner to the three-year long conflict. Even Palpatine's most loyal minions, such as General Grievous, would suffer under the Emperor's callous plan. The man cared for no one outside of himself, power, and the continuation of the Sith ideology. He truly was a madman, but Luke would be damned if he wasn't clever in his manipulation skills.

Luke wanted to move forward to study the holo the droid had left behind, but he yelped in surprise when his non-corporeal form was suddenly yanked in the direction Grievous and the droid had went off to, the Force somehow still guiding him despite him not being able to properly access it. With a sigh, he let himself be dragged after the two and was intensely grateful, not for the first time, that he couldn't be seen.

Grievous entered the turboshaft that took him and his officer all the way up to the upper level, unaware of Luke's spectral form floating behind them. The turboshaft was crowded, and Luke fought a wince as both Grievous and the droid officer's forms went through him as if he was nothing but air. It unnerved him to no end and he wondered if Obi-Wan had ever felt like that when he watched over Luke as a ghost.

Just as he was beginning to squirm from the discomfort of the situation, the turboshaft doors finally slid open with a hydraulic hiss, a conference room appearing behind it with a large holo-transmitter sitting smack dab in the center of the room. Grievous clambered out of the turbolift and into the center of the room, his clawed metal feet clanking loudly and reverberating around the large room. Luke was jerked forward yet again, watching intently as Grievous began inputting a frequency into the comm. In seconds flat, a life-sized, blue, staticky hologram appeared, Grievous bowing instantly as a hooded figure faded into view. It didn't take more than a blink before the dreaded shudder of cold and terror ran down Luke's spine and he started to feel the blood drain from his face. He desperately tried to pinwheel backwards to escape the sickly presence of the Sith Lord, but the vision cemented him down, ignoring his rapidly beating heartbeat and shaking hands. In his physical body, he could sense whatever healers were treating him, their panic at his elevated stress level, unaware as to what was causing it. Taking a deep breath, Luke forced himself to control his emotions before he made himself present to the Sith and put more strain on his body than he already had.

He wasn't physically present, therefore Palpatine could not see or sense him. He was fine. He hoped.

"Lord Sidious," Grievous rasped, raising his head slightly but still lowered in a respectful bow.

"General Grievous," Sidious said calmly and callously, his twisted voice sending knots into Luke's stomach. "You may rise."

"Thank you, my Lord," Grievous said before rising out of his bow, the creaking of his metal body protesting the movement scratchy and painful to Luke's ears. "How may I be of service?"

"I suggest you move the Separatist leaders to Mustafar. Keeping them all in one location will ensure their safety for the time being while my plan plays out," Sidious said, the fake concern he showed for the safety of his allies disturbing and making Luke want to launch himself back into his stupidly unconscious body. He truly was blessed to have the Force, but he absolutely loathed surreal visions.

"It will be done, my Lord," Grievous responded, moving once more into another bow, this one somehow even lower than before.

"The end of the war is near, General, and I promise you...victory is assured," Sidious said with a twist of his lips, his face just barely visible underneath the hood that concealed half of his face in unnerving shadows.

"And what of the loss of Count Dooku?" Grievous inquired, not sounding too particularly remorseful about the death of the Sith. Luke had seen the way Grievous had struck the window and shot out, he had had no care for the safety of anyone but himself in that moment, a selfish act that truly fit a personality like his. In fact...Palpatine had been on that ship's bridge as well, equally exposed to the dangers of space. Therefore...the cold Luke was feeling was not just the regular Force presence of Palpatine, but his angry one. Luke now realized why Grievous was bowing so low.

"His death was a necessary loss which will, in turn, ensure our victory. Soon I will have a new apprentice, one far younger and more powerful than Lord Tyrannus. He will easily replace him without consequence," Sidious explained, sadistic glee leaking through the pinched voice. Luke shivered violently once more, the crawl of the Dark itching up and down his skin and teasingly nipping at his soul. Palpatine was referencing his future pupil and right hand, the Empire's most feared and the Emperor's personal assassin, Darth Vader. This was Sidious' plan...to turn his father to his side. How he accomplished it, Luke wasn't sure, especially after meeting the younger Anakin Skywalker and seeing such a warm spirit...a warm and troubled spirit.

How did one untrouble a soul? All the trauma Anakin had been throughout his life that led him to eventually turning, how could Luke just erase all that? Why did the Force send him so late in his father's life, most likely only months or even weeks before he fell? How was he to stop anything in such a short amount of time and with little to no information?

"One more thing General."

Luke's thoughts began to overwhelm him, the line between his physical body and his spirit growing weaker as consciousness began to return to him. With every second he grew more agitated. He could sense Palpatine detecting him, not necessarily knowing that he was directly next to him, but the Sith still able to slink inside his mind. Luke had to escape, to wake up, wake up!

"Anything, my Lord."

Luke could feel it now, Sidious had to know he was there. He had to get out of there, he was ruining everything before he even started. Sidious could not find out who he is, he needed stronger shields, he needed to snap back into his body.

"There was another present on the ship. A boy by the name of Luke Starkiller. His Force presence is...curious, and I watched him with great interest. He claims to be a Jedi and yet materializes from nowhere with fuzzy memories. His power is intoxicating. I want you to learn everything you can of him by contacting one of my spies in the Temple. He may be a problem to my overall plan...but may also be an asset. But if the time does come and he does interfere with my work, he shall simply see a merciless death," Sidious cackled.

Wake up!

Like a trap door opening at his feet, Luke was suddenly falling, the world around him deforming into a mass of darkness, a void that was sucking him away from whatever Grievous' response would be to his Master's order. Terror ran through Luke's blood, boosting his previously lost adrenaline as the repercussions of what he had just heard rang through his head.

He was on Darth Sidious' radar. If he messed up in the slightest, he was dead. Dead before he was even born...a sickly twisted irony.

Unable to help himself and forgetting every last thing Master Yoda had once told him about giving into fear, Luke simply screamed into the void, his mind a kaleidoscope of grim thoughts before he was suddenly gasping for breath and sitting upright on a medical cot, a vital monitor beeping frantically in his ear.

A pair of wide and concerned blue eyes were staring at him.