Chapter Text
Grievous looked down at the child that was currently on his lap, snuggled in his cape.
They gazed at the sky in awe as the starfighter flew through Hyperspace. If he could, he definitely would be smiling right now. “Hyperspace sure is beautiful, isn’t it?” Grievous said in his usual raspy tone.
Truth be told, Grievous enjoyed the swirling patterns of blue and white that were the hyperspace sky. Despite the rumors of the supposed madness that was acquired from staring into hyperspace for too long, staring into its sky was almost...therapeutic for him. He looked down at the child who was still mesmerized by the swirling lights and started drifting into thought.
Grievous still wondered why he even bothered with keeping the child in the first place. Handing them off to a villager would have been a much easier task instead of acting on impulse and taking them with him. Well, that’s what he chose to call it. Grievous knew that he couldn’t have felt pity...empathy- whatever the feeling was called, for a simple child- let alone a Jedi's own of all things. He was always told that such emotions were signs of weakness, and he would rather die than admit to being weak.
Grievous quickly snapped out of thought as the hyperspace sky shifted to a black sky littered with white speckles. He soon realized that The Soulless One had exited hyperspace near a moon he was all too familiar with.
Vassek 3.
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The Soulless One cut through the thick fog of Vassek 3's sky as it made its descent towards Grievous's castle. Once it had reached the cliffside entrance to the castle’s hanger, the starfighter stopped and kept its distance as the enormous doors swung open, allowing it entry. The Soulless One flew inside, the doors slamming shut behind it.
When the starfighter came down to land, a few maintenance droids already started to approach. They stood by, forming a small group, waiting patiently as the ship's engine died down and the cockpit hatch opened. Grievous climbed out, still holding the child in one of his split arms. As if on queue, two magnaguards started to approach, electro-staffs in hand. The small group of droids were quick to notice and scurried out of the way, making a path for them to walk through. Grievous looked over to the two magnaguards who stood at attention in front of the cyborg. "At ease, magnaguards. Has anything of intere-" he was cut off when he started coughing, but managed to calm down his fit before it could progress. “Has anything of interest happened while I was gone?”
One of the guards spoke up.“Negative, General.”
They looked over and noticed the toddler in his grasp who cooed quietly as they looked right at them, seemingly unfazed by their appearance. “Sir, why do you have a child?” One of them spoke up
Grievous sighed deeply. “My mission came with a few...unexpected surprises, and this child was one of them. But that’s all you need to know.”
The two droids looked at each other, confused. They knew that the General was fond of bringing home trophies from his various missions but a literal toddler was...something new. However, they decided not to question their General’s actions and simply decided that they would stand by and watch to find out. Grievous soon walked past them, prompting the two to follow behind him.
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Grievous walked through the dimly lit hallways of his lair, still cradling the infant in one arm as he walked past the occasional Magnaguard, the two that greeted him earlier still trailing behind him. The infant looked around with wide eyes as they were carried through this strange new place.
When they walked into the main room of the lower level, Grievous kept his head low as they walked past the few statues that depicted what he could only describe as somewhat memorable moments from his past, back when he was a completely organic being. The toddler tried reaching out towards one of the statues, yelling pure gibberish as if they were trying to get it’s attention. Grievous stopped and turned to one of the statues, curious of what the child was trying to do until it clicked. They thought these were actual people.
“Pup, these are just statues. They’re not real.” He reached out and grabbed onto it’s stone arm and shook it ever so slightly. The toddler soon quieted down after realizing how it never reacted or moved from being shaken. Grievous walked past the statue, the toddler looking back as they cooed quietly.
Once they cleared the main room, the small group entered Grievous's cybernetic storage room, all the various spare parts for his body up on the ceiling, floor and walls, all neat and organized. Grievous instinctively covered the toddler with his cape as soon as the door opened so that they weren't spooked by the sight. As they walked past his 'collection', the cyborg glanced over each spare part and couldn't help but feel a little unnerved from the sight. Looking at the literal pieces of himself up on display, waiting to have use was a sight that he still had a hard time getting used to.
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In his trophy room, Grievous walked past his display of lightsabers, inspecting every single one of them to make sure that they were in place. Most of them were from lesser known Jedi, but he did have sabers that belonged to a few honourable mentions. He glanced over his collection of Padawan braids and beads that were laid next to their respective lightsabers. He couldn't help but feel a bit of pride knowing that he had managed to stop a Jedi lineage in its tracks. Since they wanted to present themselves as warriors on the battlefield, he only thought it was fair that he treat them as warriors and give them a warrior's death.
Once Grievous reached a shelf with some empty space, he reached into his cloak and took out the three sabers that he acquired on his mission. He looked them over, inspecting them to make sure they weren't dirty in any way. After determining that they were in decent condition, Grievous placed the sabers on separate display stands on the shelf before stepping back to proudly admire the new additions to his collection. "Since that's out the way, now I just have you to worry about." Grievous said, looking down at the toddler. The toddler looked up at him and simply responded with an "Ah".
Grievous started to walk off, but froze once he heard his holo-projector start to beep. He took it out his cape, confused to who could have been calling him at this time until realization hit. Darth Sideous. He was definitely calling to see how his so-called mission went. Grievous turned to his Magnaguards. "Alright, I know this might not be in your programming, but I need you to watch this pup for me. I can't have Lord Sideous finding out that I have them here."
He handed the toddler off to one of the guards, who was quick to take them. "Guard this child as if we have a Jedi in this place."
Grievous quickly rushed out of his trophy room, leaving his two highly confused guards and the toddler behind.
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Once Grievous got away from his trophy room, he took a moment to fix his cape before answering the holo-call. His audio receptors tilted back as he felt a slight pang of fear from being greeted to a disappointed hologram of Sidious.
"General...why was there such a long delay? You've never taken so long to answer before." Sideous said in a rather agitated tone.
"Apologies, Lord Sideous. I was...trying to deal with a small issue within my castle. But I promise that there won't be any more delays like this." Grievous said. It wouldn't really be considered lying as it was...partially the truth.
"I will only accept this. Once. Don't make it happen again."
"Understood, my Lord."
Sideous crossed his arms behind his back. "You better keep that promise. Anyways, how did the mission go? I assume it was a success?"
"I managed to locate and take down the two Jedi like you requested. Their lightsabers are currently in my collection."
"Good...good. Did you find anything...unusual by any chance?"
Grievous paused for a moment. Unusual? He must be talking about the child. Either that, or it's the strange inhabitants of the strange forest planet. Either way, knowing Lord Sideous, it was better not to admit either. "No, my Lord. The only things I found that could be considered out of the ordinary were those...Jedi filth.”
"I see. Well, congrats on your success then. I'll speak with you when it's time for your next assignment, General." The sith said before ending the holo-call.
Once the call hung up, Grievous double-checked to make sure it had ended. Once he knew for certain that the call was over, he immediately threw it at the wall with enough force to instantly shatter it. Grievous sighed deeply in a mix of relief and slight regret, resting a hand on his faceplate. “This has to be one of the stupidest decisions I’ve ever made.” He groaned. “It’s already been a semi-dysfunctional start.”
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As soon as Grievous stepped into his trophy room, he was greeted by a magnaguard pointing a charged electro-staff at him. The other stood back by an open door, holding the child in one arm while they used their free hand to point a blaster, looking as if they were ready to book it at the right moment. Once the two droids realized it was only Grievous, they lowered their weapons and stood at attention, the child cooing in curiosity.
“At ease, guards. Nice to see you understood the assignment.” Grievous spoke up. “Now, bring me the pup.”
The guard holding the toddler walked over and handed the child off to Grievous. But before they could walk off, the cyborg grabbed them by their shoulder. They looked back at him, a bit puzzled. “You're not in trouble, but I do want you to come with me. There’s a few things I’d like to work on, and you will be needed for that.”
The droid turned to properly face him.“What’s the assignment, sir?”
“I’ll discuss it when we get there. Now follow me.” He said before walking off.
The magnaguard followed behind, confused but curious to whatever assignment their General had for them.