Tatooine: Awakening.

Morning had long arrived on Tatooine, counting from the first rays of celestial light. A solitary figure, completely wrapped in a long black cloak with large blue lenses on a respirator mask, sat not far from an old, weathered building where the captive... Enemy? Or perhaps no one? To be honest, he had yet to decide what to do with her; it all depended on her.

At this moment, the man in the gas mask was actively drawing and writing something on the ground with a beautiful red knife. His handwriting couldn't be called beautiful, but many men would envy his calligraphy skills. He was recording the names of each familiar character on the ground, encircling them, and then adding information he knew about them.

Anakin Skywalker, who would later become the iconic figure known as Darth Vader. He was taken as a child to the Jedi Temple. His primary teacher is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Hassan wasn't sure if Anakin had joined the Jedi Council, which he only vaguely remembered, so he decided to list him as a regular Jedi for now. As for the ranks among the Light Side warriors, he wasn't sure either, except for the possibility of them being Masters. Anakin is in love with Padmé, or more accurately, they are even married. Can Jedi engage in romantic relationships? More likely no than yes, so this aspect remained questionable. The Chosen One is also closely tied to Palpatine, who is Darth Sidious. Why he became so attached to him is something worth investigating. He also values his Padawan, who will be expelled from the Jedi Temple. The reason? Hassan couldn't recall.

The notes looked something like this:

Anakin Skywalker. Darth Vader in the future. Teacher – Obi-Wan Kenobi. Apprentice – Ahsoka Tano. Attachments: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Palpatine, Padmé. To investigate: family, societal standing. Goal: manipulate in his favor through his loved ones. Avoid prolonged contact with the Chosen One.

Obi-Wan Kenobi. As far as Hassan could remember, his teacher died at the hands of Darth Maul. Overall, he remembered very little about this character, except that there was some connection between him and a girl on Mandalore, but who that girl was remained a completely different question. Goal: gather as much information as possible about him.

Ahsoka Tano...

But he was interrupted from his contemplations by a piercing scream coming from the hut.

Hassan instantly straightened up and rushed into the house. There, he found a Twi'lek girl, Sev'rance Tann, heavily panting, seemingly covered in sweat. Upon seeing him, Sev'rance Tann jolted, then grabbed the lightsaber lying next to her pillow, activated it, and lunged fiercely at the young man.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

She couldn't see this... Even after waking up, she saw the cracked mirrored mask again, still gazing at her. The horror she felt pierced her very soul, and she instinctively grabbed her lightsaber and launched an attack on her enemy. However, with the very first furious strike, her opponent easily dodged to the side, sending her flying out onto the street.

"Good morning, Sev'rance Tann," his voice slightly distorted due to the cracked mask.

The Sith remained silent, only clenching her jaw tighter. The realization of everything that had happened was slowly beginning to clarify in her mind. Darth Hassan, a Sith Lord before her, not only defeated her in a duel but also made her teacher renounce her! She couldn't let this go unchallenged! She would kill him! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!!!

To release all her fury, she was once again preparing to strike first; however, she managed to take only one step. The left side of her face twitched again as another memory returned to her. With a trembling hand, she touched her twitching cheek, but felt no hint of a burn or even a scar on her skin.

"Do you see what I am capable of?" Hassan drew his swords from under his cloak and spread his arms wide. "I branded you, but I also healed you," he began circling the girl. "You're angry with me! You want to kill me! But you can't even begin to imagine the favor I've done for you."

"Shut up!" the Sith yelled.

With a Force-enhanced lunge, she almost instantly reached her enemy, attempting to pierce him with her lightsaber. However, Hassan skillfully parried her strike, deflecting it aside. Nevertheless, the girl succumbed to momentum and delivered a sweeping circular blow, causing the masked man to drop down and, in the process, kick the girl in the stomach. His heel, like a spear, pierced the vulnerable part of Tann's body, causing her to fly back a few meters, dropping her sword, and clutching the injured part of her body.

"Brrr... Bu-oo..." She could only make guttural sounds.

"Yesterday, you fought much more skillfully and even more elegantly," Hassan sarcastically remarked. "Your rage and anger prevent you from assessing the situation rationally. Do I not know it myself? I'm impulsive too, but I'm not as dimwitted as you," he shrugged.

— Shut... Kh-hm... Up... — the girl barely managed to force out.

"Apparently, you won't calm down until I beat the crap out of you," Sev'rance' lightsaber, lying nearby the Sith, ignited. "Well then, show me what that old fart taught you," and it fell next to Chiss.

He had only added fuel to the raging fire inside the girl when he mentioned her teacher. Her anger transformed into genuine hatred, granting her strength, like some sort of drug. The pain in her stomach receded, replaced once again by a thirst for blood. The girl took the lightsaber, straightened up, and...

Went on the defensive. Hassan's paired swords flew from his hands and began circling around the girl. They delivered chaotic attacks from various angles, turning the duel into a two-against-one battle. As much as Tann didn't want to admit it, the enemy was right. In the heat of anger, she had completely forgotten her teacher's lessons, which had led to the missed strike to her abdomen. But that wouldn't happen again.

She focused entirely on the Force, anticipating every move of the sword in every sense of the word. There, she dodged the swing of the first sword, and then leaped back to avoid the second one from grazing her shoulder. She had experience fighting several Jedi before, though this situation was still radically different from those encounters.

She had to feverishly dodge and leap around to avoid the dark blades' deadly edges. She couldn't even go on the offensive because the enemy was quite far from her. If she were to spit on the blades and rush at Darth, the blades would easily impale her from behind. Of course, Tann could use the Force to push them away, but that carried a great risk as well. To focus and execute the technique, she needed at least a moment to prepare, but the blades attacked her relentlessly.

The girl deflected a strike from one blade while changing her stance to make it easier to evade the second attack. Then, the first blade nearly beheaded her again, but she managed to block it. However, she already realized she had exposed herself to the other blade, which passed flatly over her legs, knocking Sev'rance onto her back. Before she could properly land, both weapons plunged into the ground next to her blue neck, forming what seemed like scissors.

One awkward move, and the razor-sharp blades would undoubtedly leave their mark on her skin. However, it seemed Hassan didn't care at all. He leaped high from his seat and landed precisely on the hilt of the paired swords, then squatted on them to reduce at least a little the the distance with his opponent. The swords went a little deeper into the ground, closer to the to Chiss's exposed neck.

"Right now, I wouldn't fidget if I were you," the wooden mask stared at her, "so that I don't accidentally press on the swords harder. I never planned to kill you, and I don't plan to now. You can hate me, and I understand your hatred, but your former teacher, Dooku, would have killed you when you were no longer useful. You were just a tool to him," now the Sith's face trembled with anger and a new burst of fury. "Be angry or not, attack me or not, but the outcome will be the same—I'll beat you again like a little defenseless girl, and you'll lie battered at my feet. Right now, I'm giving you a choice," Hassan pushed off from the swords and, somersaulting in the air, landed not far from the girl.

Along with him, his swords flew, which had left the delicate throat of the girl in peace, allowing her to breathe a little more freely. The swords landed perfectly in the hands of the masked man, and then he, in his usual manner, hid them under his cloak, probably placing them in their sheaths.

"You can leave and do whatever you want. You can even return to Dooku and beg him to take you back—or..." he approached the fallen Sev'rance with a casual gait, "...you can become my apprentice," he extended his hand to her. "I am a Sith, but I am a different kind of Sith. I couldn't care less about those stupid rules I don't even know, but I have the Force, so people respect me, and I am willing not only to share my power with you and teach you everything I know but also to protect you like my first precious apprentice."

Tann stared at Hassan's outstretched hand for a long time. A storm of emotions, consisting of fear, anger, despair, and deep hurt, gripped her heart. More than revenge, what she thirsted for right now was oblivion. Too much had happened in one night, events that had struck at both her pride and her mental well-being. Even now, she could hear Darth's monologue, but due to a kind of detached state, she couldn't comprehend what he was saying. Only a few words had somehow registered with her, but nothing more.

Therefore, Sev'rance didn't accept Hassan's offer and instead got up on her own. She then headed to the nearby, dilapidated shack to collect her thoughts. Hassan simply watched her as she walked away.