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 #91112  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Alrighty, here we go!
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Chapter 13

Why? That’s the only question you can possibly muster?”
“Just answer it.” Revan replied, his lightsaber held firmly in his hands. As he exhaled, his breath filled the air with a slight fog, showing that the air was indeed growing colder by the minute.
“Alright. I intend on killing you, slowly, and making you feel the years of pain that I’ve felt.” Anarra answered, slamming her blaster pistol back into its holster, and grabbing her lightsaber with both hands. "The pain that you inflicted on me."
“And just how do you expect to do that?”
“Simple. First, I’m going to immobilize you, then I’m going to kill your wife and child.” Revan’s eyes widened as the woman in front of him continued to speak. “And then, I’m going to work my way up, making sure nothing of you is left.”
“The Mandalorians really did torture you. Enough to make something inside your brain snap.” Revan replied, shaking his head in the process. “You really have no idea what you’re doing, don’t you?”
Yes, I have no idea what I’m doing. I had no idea when I was killing Jedi across the galaxy, then leaving clues that I knew would lead the Jedi Council to believe it was you doing the killing, and then discovering a way to harness the ancient Sith powers that the Council hid away within the Temple. You’re right, no idea.”
“I swear Anarra, if you lay one hand on Bastila, I’ll kill you.”
“Oh, that doesn’t sound very Jedi like, now does it?”
“To hells with the Code.” Smiling, Anarra took a step towards him, her saber showing no defensive or offensive stance.
“Come now, Revan. I can sense the curiosity inside you. You want to know what happened between us. More than even you are willing to admit.” She said with a seductive look in her eyes, and a grin on her face.
“Don’t make assumptions.”
“Oh come now, I know you better than anyone, Rev.” Anarra replied with a slight chuckle. “It used to make you smile when I would call you that.”
Revan, come in, this is the Ebon Hawk.” Revan’s comlink said, filling the room with its slightly static sound.
“Ah, and that must be your wife. I’m sorry I missed the wedding. I would have been a wonderful flower girl.” Anarra offered back with a slight grin. “Go ahead, answer her.”
“Bastila, get the ship airborne. Now. Meet me at the Enclave.” Revan answered, moving the comlink to his lips.
Is something wrong?” Bastila asked, her voice sounding slightly worried.
“Just get the Hawk in the air!” Shutting the comlink off, Revan slammed it back onto his belt, and regained his grip on his saber.
“So, running away? That hardly seems like the kind of thing Darth Revan would have done.”
“Darth Revan is dead, I’m a different person now.”
“Oh really? Let’s see, same face, same eyes, same concern for people. Doesn’t seem very different.” Anarra replied sarcastically, taking another step towards him. As she moved her saber up into the beginning patterns of a simple speed based pattern, she barely managed to get her saber into a defensive position as Revan brought his own saber down onto her.
“Really, attacking first? Your fighting style hasn’t changed a bit!” She mocked, grinning as he pulled his saber back for another swing, which she also blocked with skill, if not a little rusty precision. Dodging a few more assaults, Anarra swung her blade upwards in a swinging motion, almost managing to land a hit on Revan’s shoulder. Ducking underneath Revan’s blade, she quickly kicked out with her leg at Revan's knee, and gave a quick smile of satisfaction as she heard him cry out in pain.
“Come on now, I’m not even breaking a sweat!” She said, twirling her lightsaber in a mocking fashion. In front of her, Revan was painting slightly, although he showed no signs of trying to slow down his attacks.
“Neither am I.”
***********************************************
“T3, are the pre-flight checks done yet?” Bastila yelled out, her hands still a blur over the control panels. Behind her, she heard the droid whistle an affirmative.
“Alright, make sure the navicomputer is up and running. I want to be prepared in case Revan’s got all of us into something that none of us can handle.” Again, the droid echoed its affirmative and quickly rolled over to the navicomputer, which gave its own affirmative as T3 plugged into the system. Flicking up the rearward thrusters, Bastila could feel her body shake a little as the Ebon Hawk lifted itself up from the snow and back into the windy air.
“Revan? Come in, this is the Ebon Hawk . We’re in the air and heading for the enclave. Come in, over.” Bastila said into the comlink, and upon being met with only static, she closed her eyes and reached out through the bond. Through Revan’s mind, she saw flickers of the battle that was ensuing at that very moment, and as she opened her eyes, she quickly engaged the Hawk’s engines and steered the ship towards the abandoned enclave. The wind was rapidly pushing more and more snow onto the front of the ship, and as T3 beeped out a warning, Bastila turned a switch that was off to her right, and slowly the snow began to melt off of the windows.
“T3, there’s something off the starboard side, can you take a look at it?” She asked, with the Hawk rapidly slowing down as she pulled another switch. Turning her head to its side, she watched as the droid plugged itself into the ship-to-surface sensors. The droid was silent for a moment, and then began to utter a stream of words in its own language.
“Can you get the exact coordinates of the ship?” T3 replied with an affirmative and immediately went to work with uploading the data into the ships’ computer. There was a small amount of black smoke visible through the blinding blizzard, and it continued to pour into the air at a furious pace.
Revan, can you hear me? Bastila asked through their bond, her eyes closed in silent concentration.
Yes, fine. Is the ship in the air? Was his response, its nature sounding rather strained. Concentrating harder, Bastila continued to enter Revan’s mind through the bond. The scenes that filled her eyes were ones of a continuing battle, with the constant clash of lightsabers echoing without end.
Revan, tell me where you are. We’re coming to get you, and this is NOT open for discussion! She replied through the bond, waiting anxiously for his response.
I’m at the downed ship…….Bastila, the one who’s been killing the Jedi, it’s a Sith.
“Bloody hell.” Bastila exclaimed, her eyes snapping open, and her hands instantly flying to the Ebon Hawk’s controls.
“T3, make sure the turbo-lasers are up, I’ve got the feeling this isn’t going to end well.”
*********************************************************
“Commander Onasi?” The navigator asked, his attention turning away from the holo-map that lay glowing in front of him.
“What is it soldier?” Carth responded, sifting his own attention away from the group of officers that he was helping to plan their course of attack.
“We’re intercepting comlink transmissions from the planet’s surface; shall I put them on screen?”
“Proceed.” Without speaking, the navigator keyed in a short sequence of numbers, and soon, the transmissions began to echo loudly through the bridge.
“Bastila, get the ship in the air. Now. Meet me at the Enclave.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Just get the Hawk into the air!”
And with a flurry of static, the transmissions ended, plunging the bridge into utter silence.
“Commander Onasi, your orders?” One of the lower officers asked, part of his body still bend over the holo-map in front of him. There was a certain tension in the air now, and it quickly flooded over Carth’s senses. He may not have been a Jedi, but he could easily pick up on the other officers emotions.
“Continue prepping the ground team. We’re going down there.”
“But sir, the Jedi…”
“The Jedi Order has no jurisdiction over us right now. So as I said before, continue prepping the ground teams.” Carth said, cutting the officer off in mid-sentence. “And I’ll be going down with them.”
“But sir! What about the fleet? Who’s going to command them?”
“Simple.” He replied, turning his head to the boy meditating behind him. “Dustil will assume command of the fleet while I’m on the surface.”
“But commander.” The officer continued, gesturing for Carth to come closer. “He’s just a boy!”
“And a Jedi. If that’s not enough for you, then I-“
“Commander Onasi?” The com-expert interrupted again, one of his hands still firmly gripping the head-set that surrounded his right ear. “We’re receiving a Code Three transmission from an incoming fleet.”
“Can you get an I.D. on the fleet, soldier?”
“Yes…” The expert continued, flicking a few switches and pushing a few buttons before he turned back to face Carth. “Sir, It’s coming from a Jedi fleet. They’re requesting to speak to you.”
“Sith spit.” Carth muttered under his breath, beginning to walk towards the holo-projector.
*********************************************
As the lines of hyperspace disappeared from view, Vima could feel the wave of emotions that filled the ship’s cabin. Looking over to where her mother sat, she heard the swift sound of movement from behind her, and as she once again turned her vision, she could see one of her fellow Knights moving to access the comlink system.
“What are you doing?” Vima asked, unfastening her seat belt, and moving to stand up on her feet.
“Admiral Onasi’s fleet in the system. I’m going to contact him and ask him for assistance in capturing Revan.”
“How do you know that?”
“Your mother told me.” The Knight replied, turning away from Vima and focusing his attention on the comsystem. Closing her eyes, Vima shook her head, and moved towards the door.
“Vima?” Nomi asked, her attention never wavering from guiding the ship out into open space.
“I’m just going for a walk, mother.” Vima replied, keying in the door’s access code, and stepping out of the cabin. Her lightsaber swinging silently at her hip. Running a hand through her fiery red hair, she sighed and continued along the hall, her attention focused on getting her emotions under control.
Somehow, Master Atris had been right about planting a tracer on Commander Onasi’s ship. She had claimed that events had been set in motion that had remained clouded in her visions, and that she claimed that Carth Onasi was somehow involved with them. Exactly how, she hadn’t revealed to any of the other Council members.
Still, despite her mother’s continued attempts to calm her, Vima couldn’t help but feel uneasy about this entire situation. She had been fully against attempting to capture Revan and Bastila, and then imprison them, with the eventual sentence being to completely strip them of their ability to feel the Force. Her mother had done it before, to Ulic, and there was no doubt in Vima’s mind that she would be able to easily do it again.
Vima couldn’t help but remember the two young children that she had taught on Dantooine, before the Mandalorian Wars had set fire to the galaxy. Revan and Bastila had been total opposites of each other, and yet had grown to be friends. And when Revan had gone to the Wars, Bastila had been heartbroken, refusing to speak to anyone for days on end, even to the Masters.
Those had been the days of what had seemed to be relative peace, with almost no threat echoing through the galaxy. And then, the Mandalorians had come, Revan and Malak had rebelled, left, returned, and fallen. The entire thing seemed to be a dream. And yet, it had been a reality. The galaxy had been set on fire once, and it was still reeling from the burns that the wars had left.
***************************************
The blizzard still hadn’t slowed, and as Anarra swung her saber again, she could barely see the saber’s blade in front of her. And yet, she could still sense when Revan’s blade began to glide through the air, its target being somewhere where her head was located. She quickly ducked, nearly losing her balance in the snow, and as she raised her own saber, it quickly became locked against Revan’s, spark igniting from where the two blades were connected.
“Anarra…”
SHUT UP!” Anarra screamed back at him, pushing even further on her hilt. “I DON’T EVER WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY MY NAME AGAIN!” Finally withdrawing his blade, Revan brought the blade back up in front of him, holding it in a defensive stance. Both he and Anarra were breathing heavily, and despite the snow falling around them, both were sweating profusely.
“You really want to kill me this bad, don’t you?” He asked, steadying his breathing in order to regain some of his concentration.
“What was your first clue?” She replied, her voice sounding exhausted. Her stance echoed how her voice had sounded, and as she stood in front of him, Revan could see that she was close to collapsing.
“It doesn’t have to end like this. The Jedi would welcome you...”
“Right, they would welcome me back, and then secretly imprison me. Another dirty Jedi secret swept under the cargo ramp.” Anarra interrupted, rolling her eyes in the process.
“It’s possible.”
“It’s possible? Don’t lie to me, Revan. They will do that if I go back, or cut me off of the Force. Either way, I’d rather die here than go back there.” She replied, taking a small step towards Revan, her saber held loosely in her right hand. Standing there, Revan pushed his thumb down on his saber, and as the blade disappeared back into the hilt, he looked into Anarra’s eyes.
“Then do it. Strike me down.”

 #91117  by Clank
 
holy moly,you realy end it,amazingly.

in all this,it makes me think that annara is deep down inside a bit jelaus,that she realy loves revan.

 #92052  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Well.........*Silence*............Ok.................

Ok, the next chapter of Rift is in the works. I'm sending it through the drafts, so don't worry!

 #92416  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Chapter 14

“Is this some sort of a test? Are you deliberately trying to kill yourself?” Anarra replied, the astonishment in her voice matching the look in her eyes. Starring back at her, Revan remained where he stood, his expression unflinching in the face of immediate death.
“If you want to kill me, if it will bring you that much closure, then just do it.” Looking back into his eyes, Anarra found herself unable to move or speak, the words she wanted to say remaining locked away inside her throat. The only sound that existed between them now was the constant humming sound of her lightsaber as its green blade glowed brightly in the almost blinding blizzard.
‘That’s just like you. Always wanting to play the odds.” She finally replied, an eerie chuckle running through her voice.
“What the hell happened to you? Did the Mandalorians really make you go insane?”
“You don’t have the faintest clue, do you?” Anarra answered, a slight tone of anger lining her voice. “You really don’t? All that I went through, because you convinced me to join your fracking crusade?”
“Then why don’t you enlighten me?”
***********************************************
The artillery continued to rain down upon them, like lightning in the fiercest storm imaginable. Ducking as the Mandalorians unleashed another round of salvos at them, Anarra leaped into the foxhole, where she found Terryyk and Palaria huddled down as well.
“Where are the others?” She asked, throwing herself against the ground as a few Mandalorian blasts landed dangerously close.
“We lost ‘em!” Palaria shouted back, her voice cracking with unrestrained fear. She was still a child, at least in Anarra’s eyes, and she had been one of the youngest to join Revan’s fleet when they had left.
“Can we contact Revan?” Anarra questioned, raising her head just in time to see a thermal detonator flying towards them. Pushing it aside with the Force, she nevertheless ducked as the explosion rocked the ground.
“No good!” Terryyk answered, his hands furiously fiddling with the comlink. “They’re jamming us!”
“Sithspit!” Anarra said, reaching for the lightsaber that remained clipped to her belt. “Well, we’re not going out without a fight!”
“Have you been chewing spice? We go out there and we’ll be slaughtered!”
“Fine, then lay down and die. I’m going out there!” She replied, igniting her blade and charging over the mound of dirt that lay in front of them. Seeing her, the Mandalorian soldiers were momentarily taken aback, and then quickly resumed their firing, most of them missing, but a few finding their way towards Anarra, who deflected them with a quick swipe of her lightsaber. Still, the enemy kept firing, their ammunition seemingly without end.
Behind her, she could hear Terryyk and Palaria charging out of the foxhole also, their lightsabers rapidly entering the fray. In front of them, the Mandalorian front line stretched out over a mile, with at least a few platoons behind enemy lines in case they would be needed. In the skies above, a few basilisk war droids rained down upon them, along with the continuing artillery from both sides.
Reaching the beginning of the hastily dug trenches, Anarra’s saber went to quick work, dispatching one Mandalorian soldier after another. Screams and groans of pain filled the air along with the other sounds of war. Her saber a mere blur in her hands, Anarra’s mind was only focused on the task in front of her, and a few Republic starfighters blazed past overhead, she could barely manage to focus on the rapidly approaching Republic troops that had been holed up behind the three Jedi’s positions.
Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Anarra rapidly whirled around to find Terryyk pointing at something in the distant horizon. Squinting her eyes to better focus her vision, she almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“Oh, fracking hell.” She said under her breath. Ahead of their current positions, there was a rapidly approaching group of at least five hundred Mandalorian troops. More than they could possibly hope to match with their current strength.
“Alpha Squad, repeat, come in!” The comlink said amongst heavy bursts of static. Rapidly grabbing it off of his belt, Terryyk immediately keyed in the authorization code that allowed them into the Republic’s “Secure” channel.
“Command, come in this, this is Alpha Team, we copy, over!” Within a split second of finishing his words, Terryyk found himself thrown against the ground as Anarra tackled him. Moments later, an artillery shell exploded on top of where they had been where they were standing. As the comlink flew out of Terryyk’s hand, Anarra reached out with the Force, and managed to save the communication device from being sent into an incoming artillery blast. As it flew back into her hand, she immediately slammed her thumb down onto the “Activate Transmission” switch.
“Revan, come in, this is Anarra. Repeat, come in!” There was the muffled sound of an order for someone to move out of the way, and then Revan’s voice came flying out into the air.
“Anarra, this is Revan. What’s going on down there?”
“We’re pinned down, and I think we’re about to be overrun. Where the hell are those reinforcements?” Anarra screamed back into the comlink, ducking out of the way as a rapid rain of shrapnel fly overhead.
“Revan, for the love of gods, ANSWER ME!” She said again into the mic, the desperation inside her breaking into her voice.
“Anarra…we can’t get to you.” Revan finally answered. “We don’t have enough forces left to break through the Mandalorian lines. You’re surrounded.”
“So, you’re leaving us?”
“For the time being. We ARE coming back. If you can hold out just a while longer, I’ve got another fleet coming in. We’ll be back.”
“That better be a fracking promise!”
“Anarra, I’m sorry….good luck.” And with that, the Mandalorian jamming system kicked back in, and the comlink was effectively dead. Tossing the thing to the ground, Anarra rose onto her knees, and found the Mandalorian troops only a few feet away now. The sun of the planet gleamed down onto their visors, and the glare could have almost been called beautiful, if it weren’t for the oncoming wall of blaster fire that soon closed in on the Jedi’s position.
“I say we surrender.” Palaria said, her usual calm exterior now betraying the fear that she felt inside. “They would obviously have to transport us somewhere else, and with luck, we would intercepted by a Republic fleet.”
“That is a sound plan…except for the part about us surrendering.” Anarra replied, ducking as a blaster bolt whizzed overhead and impacted on one of the Republic soldiers. “Really, what the hell is wrong with you?!”
“I don’t want to die, that’s what wrong!” Palaria replied, a scowl imprinted on her face.
“You want to surrender to them” Anarra answered, pointing in the direction of the approaching Mandalorians “Then go ahead. They’ll probably gun you down once you get within five feet of them!”
“Wrong.” A new voice answered, and as the three Jedi turned to face it, they found themselves facing at least thirty to forty guns pointed at them, all powered up and trigger-happy Mandalorians behind them.
“I would suggest putting the lightsabers and blasters down, and then maybe we won’t gun you down.”
“Well, it looks like you got your wish.” Anarra said sarcastically to Palaria, as both of them tossed their lightsabers at the feet of the Mandalorians.

As they were shuffled past the victorious Mandalorian commanders, the Republic/Jedi forces were utterly silent in their defeat. Some held onto the fact that Revan’s fleet would soon be returning, and that they would have to be saved by their leader. Inside, Anarra knew that even with the new fleet, Revan wouldn’t have enough forces to even make a dent in the Mandalorian opposition.
The remnants of what had been the Republic Army’s First Division were nothing more than a few young men, many looking like they couldn’t have been more than a few weeks out of the Academy. They all shared the same look of utter defeat on their faces, and through the Force, Anarra could feel that there wasn’t a single bit of fight left in them. They had given it their all, and in the end, it hadn’t been enough.
They had been abandoned by a cause that they had truly believed in. And, to be honest, Anarra couldn’t help but agree with them. Revan had known what would happened if he had withdrawn the fleet.
“He knew.” She said quietly under her breath, keeping her head held down low as they entered one of the Mandalorian drop ships. Someday this war was going to end.
****************************************************
“They held me there for months, torturing me every single day. And all the while, you were out there, slaughtering them without mercy.” Anarra said, her face illuminated by her lightsaber. “And you never once tried to find me. Not once.”
“I’m sure there were circumstances…” Revan started, before being interrupted by the woman standing in front of him.
“And I’m sure they just out-weighed how you felt about me at the time.” She said, her voice full of bitterness. “Really, do you know what it’s like to be alone, while the one you love is somewhere where you can find or reach them?”
“Yeah, I do.” Revan said, stepping back a bit and grinning. “And that person is right behind you.” Twirling around on her heel, Anarra found herself facing the Ebon Hawk, its forward turrets aimed straight at her. As they opened fire, she barely managed to jump out of the way. Returning to his feet, Revan pulled his comlink off of his belt, and activated it.
“Excellent timing, Bastila.”
“When you hear what I've got to say, I’m afraid your cheery mood is going to disappear.” Bastila replied as the loading ramp to the Hawk began to open. Running towards it, Revan used the Force to propel himself through the air and onto the slap of metal, before turning into the ship and sealing the ramp behind him.
“Alright, let’s get out of here.” He said as he entered the cockpit, and settled into the co-pilot’s seat. To his left, Bastila engaged the engines and the ship quickly began to glide through the air.
“I’m afraid we can’t. Carth just contacted us; the Jedi sent their fleet, and they’re currently in orbit. We wouldn’t be able to sneak by without them detecting us.”
“Sithspit.”
“Exactly my point.” She replied as the ruins of the Enclave rapidly came into sight. Slowing the ship down, Bastila engaged the Hawk’s landing gear, and as gently as possible, set the ship down into the snow.
“So we’re trapped. We can’t leave, and we can’t stay.” Bastila said, spinning her chair around to face Revan. “Either way, we have to fight someone.” Revan was silent, his face trained in silent concentration. “Revan?”
“We could make this work to our advantage.”
“How so?”
“If we can get the Jedi down here, we could show them the real killer. Henceforth, clearing our names and giving us the advantage against that Sith.”
“The only question is how.”

 #92420  by Mandalorian
 
Emp wrote:"Sithspit."


Sith happens. lol anyways nice one emp :) MOAR.

 #93038  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Alright, this is a short one, but I promise the next one will be longer.
***********************************************
Chapter 15

The snow was piling up around her, and she felt nothing but cold. She could still feel the cool touch of the lightsaber that lay gripped in her hand. Pushing herself up, Anarra could feel that her entire side was ablaze with pain. Casting a glance down at it, she almost looked away in repulsion.
“Damn it.” She said, trying to keep herself from throwing up. The clothing that hung around her ribcage was covered in her own blood, and as the wind continued to blow, she could feel the cold entering her body.
Looking up, Revan’s ship was still hovering in the air, and within seconds it became nothing more than a dot on the horizon as it disappeared into the snowstorm. Stowing her lightsaber back onto her belt, she slowly made her way through the storm towards the ruined Enclave.
This was going to end today. It was either going to be her or him, but either way, blood was going to be shed.
As she continued to dredge her way through the thick snowdrift, she desperately tried to ignore the enormous amount of pain that was coming from the wound in her side. She knew she was lucky, but still, the pain was almost blinding in its intensity.
Anarra.” Sabathia’s voice began to fill her ears, although she didn’t materialize in her spirit form.
“I thought I told you to stay away from me.” Anarra answered, continuing on her way towards the Enclave. She could sense that the bleeding in her wound was beginning to slow, and she felt a small sense of relief.
Really, you can’t order me to do anything.”
“I could just kill myself and then I would be free from listening to you.”
I’m going to ignore that outburst, and get straight into the point.” Sabathia replied, her voice drowning out every thought within Anarra’s head. “Do you really think you can fight him with that gaping wound in your side?”
“Yes, in fact I do.”
Enlighten me then.”
“I have an ancient Sith crystal with me, hanging around my neck as we speak. All I have to do is unleash it, and my victory is assured.”
Have you gone mad?! If you unleash the spirit that is locked inside of the crystal, you’ll never be able to control it!”
“As long as Revan’s dead, I could honestly care less.”
I’ll freeze you again, and this time I’ll leave you here.”
“You honestly think that scares me mother?” She said, stopping with her own free will. “I’m not afraid to die out here. In fact, nothing would give me greater happiness.”
“…I don’t even know you anymore.”
YOU NEVER KNEW ME! YOU NEVER CARED TO!!!” Anarra replied, screaming into thin air. Ahead of her, Sabathia began to materialize, the dim blue light showing around her even in the snow-storm.
So that’s what this is all about. You feel as if no-one has ever truly cared for you. Not me, not Revan, none of your friends. You feel alone.”
“If you don’t get out of here, I’m going to jam my blaster into my gut, and pull the trigger.”
I can easily stop you from doing it, just. Like. That.” Her mother replied, snapping her fingers in an exaggerated moment.
“Then do it. I’m waiting. What’s your great revelation?”
I’m only here because you want me to. Even if you think otherwise, your spirit thinks differently.”
“Whatever. I’m done speaking to you.” Anarra gave, turning and walking past her mother’s Force Ghost and continuing on towards the enclave. As she watched her daughter, Sabathia’s eyes had the look of sadness in them, and as she disappeared, she blew her daughter one last kiss that she knew would never be returned.
***************************************************
“Admiral Onasi, we’re receiving a transmission from the surface.”
“Patch it through.” Carth ordered, almost immediately as he stood at the soldier’s side. In front of him, the blue form of Revan and Bastila filled the room.
“Carth, listen, we’re changing the plan. You need to send the Jedi down here.” Revan said, his arms crossed across his chest. Behind him, Bastila stood in a similar pose.
“Should I even ask why?” Carth replied, one of his hands resting on his blaster pistol.
“No. Just do it. Trust me, we’ve got a plan.” And with that, the hologram switched off, and the blue hue disappeared from the room.
“Captain, you heard him. Get the Jedi fleet on the com and tell them that we have Revan’s location. Something tells me that they’ll be unable to resist this opportunity.” Turning away from the com unit, Carth retreated to the back of the room where Dustil was silently meditating.
“How goes the concentrating?” He asked. Opening his eyes, Dustil looked up at his father and quickly flashed a grin.
“Fine. How goes the fleet commanding?”
“Same old, same old.” Carth replied, returning the grin. Kneeling down to look his son in the eyes, Carth put his palm on Dustil’s shoulders. “Think you can handle commanding the fleet while I’m down there?”
“The question is not if I can handle it, it’s whether you can handle going into combat.”
“Hey!” His father replied with a chuckle and a punch on the shoulder.
“Admiral? We informed the Jedi of the recent development, and they’ve requested that you go with them.”
“Tell them I’m on my way.”
************************************************
Everything was utterly silent within the derelict Enclave, and except for the occasional sound of ice breaking and falling to the floor, the only sounds that coexisted with Revan and Bastila’s breathing was that of the wind.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Bastila said, her voice echoing off of the walls. “Because I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Come on, is there a reason why you should doubt me?”
“Do I really have to say them?” She replied, pushing a small piece of hair out of her face.
“Trust me.” Revan answered with a grin plastered over his face.
“I was afraid you’d say that.” Suddenly, the comlink that lay attached to Bastila’s belt ignited into a wave of noise. Gripping it into her hand, she raised it up to her mouth.
“What is it T3?” In its own language, the droid fired off a quick sentence. “Alright, thank you.”
“Incoming ships?” Revan asked, his eyes darting to the overhead window.
“Incoming ships.”
“We’d better get ready then.” He replied, mounting the stairs and pulling out the small locator beacon that he had placed on the roof.
“This had better work. I don’t feel like spending the rest of my life in a prison.” Leaning against the wall, Bastila closed her eyes in silent concentration. Looking back at her, Revan retreated down the stairs, and was almost automatically at her side.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, I’m just a little tired.”
“Are you sure?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
“Point taken.” Revan said, looking out the window and giving a moment’s glance at the Jedi ships that were now beginning to land in the snow outside. As their loading ramps fell down into the combination of snow and ice, he could see that at least some members of the Council had gone with the strike force, Vima Sunrider was among them. And then, there was a slightly familiar tugging at the back of his mind.
“I think we’re going to have to rework the battle plan just a tad bit.”
“Why do you say that?” Bastila replied, her eyes now open and focusing on her husband.
“Because that Sith woman is still alive.” He answered, his eyes meeting Bastila’s. “And she’s on her way here.”

 #93042  by Clank
 
Its about damn time!

 #93071  by Wind
 
Emp, I HAVE to commend you for this. You have a gift, and I definitely think you have the imagination to match. Please, please, please. Continue writing.

 #93073  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Gudrun wrote:Emp, I HAVE to commend you for this. You have a gift, and I definitely think you have the imagination to match. Please, please, please. Continue writing.
Awwwww thank you :D

 #93080  by Wind
 
The Emperor's Hand wrote:
Gudrun wrote:Emp, I HAVE to commend you for this. You have a gift, and I definitely think you have the imagination to match. Please, please, please. Continue writing.
Awwwww thank you :D
No problem ;)

 #93247  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Ok, change of plans. Instead of this being the last chapter, there will be one more after this, and then an epilogue.
*************************************
Chapter 16

The snow continued to fall as both parties walked out onto the plateau and faced each other. At the head of the Jedi strike force was Nomi Sunrider and her daughter, Vima. Carth trailed behind them, his eyes full of the once normal sense of distrust.
“Revan, I hope you’ve decided to surrender peacefully. There’s no need for blood to be shed here.” Nomi said, the lightsaber in her hand betraying any sense of peace in her voice. At her side, Vima offered nothing, her eyes almost utterly emotionless.
“And what would you do if he said ‘no’?” Bastila replied, her own lightsaber gripped in her right hand, her thumb just touching the ignition button. “Would you kill him? Sweep it underneath the cargo ramp?”
“Bastila, you of all people should know how we handle these matters.” Behind Nomi, Carth gave a subtle nod in Revan’s direction, which was quickly returned. Pulling out one of his blasters, he passed it off as if he was cleaning a spot off of the cold metal. Around him, the Jedi gave no sign of having noticed it.
“Indeed I do. If I recall correctly, you wanted Revan exiled almost as soon as I brought him in after he was captured.”
“It was a different time, a different place, and there were different circumstances.” Nomi answered, her eyes betraying none of her emotions. “You have almost no idea of how we can handle things such as this Even your return to the Light was nowhere near the same level as that of which we know face.”
“I’ve seen enough of it myself.” Carth said, flicking the safety off of his blaster and leveling it just inches from Nomi’s head. Behind him, the remaining Jedi ignited their lightsabers, to which Carth waved his remaining blaster in a wide arch. “Now drop the lightsaber.”
“Do you possibly think that you can frighten us with a simple blaster? Oh, Admiral Onasi, you have so much to learn.” Nomi replied, chuckling a bit underneath her breath. At their side, Vima stared back at Carth, her hands nowhere near her saber.
“Carth…” She started before he raised a blaster in her direction.
“Stay out of this Vima.” He replied, his face a perfect picture of seriousness. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You know you won’t do it.” She answered, taking a step towards him. “Just put the blaster down.”
“Carth, do what she says.” Bastila said, a barely hidden layer of pain inside her voice. Kneeling over, she almost fell to her knees as another wave of pain cycled through her body. Almost instantly at her side, Revan wrapped his arm around her mid-rift, trying to help her to stand.
“Surrender Revan. Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.” Nomi said, Carth’s blaster still jammed into the back of her skull. Glancing over at his friend, Carth could see the panic that was quickly filling Revan’s eyes.
“Revan?”
“Carth, get the frack over here!” Revan yelled, his voice overwhelming any other sound that surrounded the two groups. Walking around Nomi, Carth kept his blasters leveled at the group of Jedi, and continued to do so until he reached where Revan and Bastila were standing.
“Any of you comes any closer, and I’ll open fire.” He said, before he knelt down beside Bastila, who was now laying against one of the outside walls of the Enclave. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was growing heavier by the minute.
“Revan, she’s not…”
Damn it, Onasi, my water just broke.” Bastila answered, her eyes filled with fire as she looked at the Admiral. Staring down at her, Carth’s own eyes lit up with shock. As he turned towards Revan, he found the Jedi Knight on his feet and facing the Jedi that stood before them.
“It wasn’t me.” He said, offering no elaboration on the subject. Looking back at him, Nomi’s face showed no change of emotion.
“Whatever do you mean?” She asked, a group of lightsabers illuminating the back of her red-hair. At her side, Vima looked shocked, the first emotion that she had shown during the entire meeting.
“I wasn’t the one killing the Jedi.” Revan answered, his body language filled with determination and drive.
“I assume you have some kind of proof?”
“I dueled with the real killer. She’s still out there somewhere.”
“We’re going to need more than that, Revan. Surely you must understand that.” Nomi replied, her thumb moving over the ignition button on her saber. Looking at her mother, Vima pulled her own saber into her hand.
“How can you stand there and say that, mother?” She said, looking into her mother’s eyes with a mixture of shock and anger. “How can you?!”
“Vima, what’s wrong?” Nomi asked, almost oblivious as to what was going on inside her daughter’s mind.
“You really don’t know?” Vima replied, stepping away from her mother and towards Revan. “He’s right. He’s been right since the very beginning.”
“Vima, get away from him.”
“Or what? Will you kill me? Sweep me underneath the cargo ramp as well?” The Sunrider daughter replied, by now standing shoulder-to-chest with Revan. “Whether you believe him or not, I’m on his side.”
“Well, well, well. This is just touching.” A new voice sounded out, with all heads within the two groups turning to face the new arrival. “A family splitting apart, and a new one that is just about to be born.” As she smiled at both Nomi and Revan, Anarra’s face broke out into a sadistic smile that almost sent shivers down everyone’s spine. As he looked at her, Revan noticed that her entire side was covered in blood, which only added to the 'evil' aura that surrounded her.
“Anarra Thrales? Sabathia’s little girl? She’s the Sith?” Nomi said, her voice filled with disbelief.
“Mention that name again and I’ll cut out your tongue.” Anarra snarled in return, igniting her lightsaber in the process. As one of the Jedi moved towards her, she quickly stabbed her saber through his chest, with the green blade emerging on the other side. As the body fell to the ground, Anarra peered over the men and women in front of her.
“Now, I would advise everyone against attacking me again.”
“Anarra, I haven’t seen you since you since the Wars.” Nomi said, now turned and facing Anarra. “I would say you’ve grown, but I think that the discussion would lead nowhere.”
“You’re correct. It’s such a pleasure to see you again, Nomi Sunrider. I seem to recall that you knew about my mother the entire time I was your Padawan. And you somehow neglected to tell me.”
“You were in no way neglected. We, that is your mother and I, wanted to wait until you were older. Surely you can understand that.” Looking at the Jedi Master, Anarra’s eyes seemed to be lit with fire.
“And what if I fail to understand? What then? I somehow doubt that you’re going to defeat me using nothing but words.”
“No, Anarra, she’s not going to do anything. I’m the one that’s going to put an end to this.” Revan replied, stepping forward from the crowd with his lightsaber in hand.
“Oh, so eager to defend both the Jedi who wanted you dead, and your wife. Tell me, do you know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?” Anarra answered, that devilish grin still plastered all over her face. “I mean, when I kill both her and the baby, I want to at least know whether I’m killing a boy or a girl.”
In front of her, Revan ignited his lightsaber, and swiftly moved it into a defensive form. With the blink of an eye, Anarra jumped towards him, her lightsaber held high above her head. As it started to come down upon Revan, he brought his saber up, and easily deflected the blow. The two weapons meeting ignited a shower of sparks that flashed towards the ground before they were calmed by the freezing snow.
Again and again their sabers met and withdrew, each time drawing new sparks that fell towards the ground. The battle progressed with an amazing speed, with the other Jedi trying constantly to intervene, and each of them meeting the end of Anarra’s saber, their bodies falling back into the snow with clouds of the white substance flying up into the air.

“You can’t keep this up forever, Anarra.” Revan finally said, breaking the silence that had grown out of the fury of the battle. Staring back at him with sweat lining her forehead, Anarra cursed underneath her breath in a language that sounded vaguely Huttese .
“You think you’ve already won, don’t you?” She asked, twirling her lightsaber without intention in her hand.
“Yeah, pretty much.” Revan replied with his sarcastic tongue, eager to shed some humor into the current situation. Almost immediately, Anarra began a sadistic laugh, one that was filled with enough evil to send shivers down his spine.
“You most likely don’t remember anything about Sith crystals. The power that is contained within them.” She said, the chuckle underlining her voice. “Well, deep within the annals of the academy on Korriban that you destroyed, I found one.” Reaching into her tunic, she forcefully broke the chain that surrounded the crystal from where it had been hanging around her neck. “All I need to do is unleash it. The spirit inside will take my body, and renew my strength. I will have enough power within myself to kill a thousand Jedi.”
“You have no idea what you’re doing. “ Revan answered calmly, his lightsaber still held in its defensive position. “You unleash that spirit, and you’ll die along with your soul.”
“See, the thing is, I no longer care. I’ve searched for months, searched across the galaxy, for you. So I could look into your face as you die.”
“Anarra, the power within that Sith crystal is something you can’t possibly hope to understand.”
She knew, foolish Jedi.” A new voice rang out, emerging from Anarra’s mouth. The voice was corrupted with an incredible amount of Dark Side energy, and almost instantly Revan could feel it through the Force.
“Anarra?”
She hasn’t existed for some time, Jedi. Her soul and body belonged to me the moment she hung that crystal around her neck.” The spirit replied, the sight and sound of it utterly foreign as it emerged from Anarra’s body.
That look that adorns your face, you do not believe what you yet see. I can utterly assure you, young Revan, that Anarra is no longer the personality to which this body belongs to. It belongs to Ludo Kressh!”
“Ancient Sith Lords. You never know when to stay at rest.”
You dare mock me? You have a fire inside of you, Revan. I look forward to seeing just how brightly it can blaze.” The Sith lord replied, raising Anarra’s lightsaber and unleashing a rapid wave of attacks against Revan, who barely managed to block each of them. Finding himself pushed back, Revan used the Force to propel himself over the Sith Lord, and began a new wave of attacks. The Sith Lord was obviously caught unaware, and it showed in the sloppiness of his swings. Again and again, Revan swung his saber at his opponent, its blue blade clashing against the green of Anarra’s. His enemy shared the same face, but the aura around it, around its entire spirit, was different in every sense of the word.
And it fought differently than Anarra had.
*************************************************
The pain was almost entirely unbearable. Her head laid back against Carth’s jacket, Bastila closed her eyes, using the Force to hold back as much pain as she possibly could. At her side, Carth and Nomi did their best to comfort her, while Vima held her lightsaber in her hand, constantly on the guard for any other threats that might come in range.
“Just take it easy, Bastila. I went through this with my wife, and if there’s one thing I remember, it’s the amount of pain she went through.”
Oh really?” Bastila replied in a sarcastic tone. Through her mind, she could feel both Revan’s emotions, and the baby’s, both with a thread of fear running through their minds.
“Revan.” She said quietly, the majority of her strength fed into subduing the pain that was coursing through her body.
“Just relax.” Carth said again, the tone in his voice already annoying her to no-end.
“My husband is out there fighting a Sith assassin, and you want me to be calm?!” She replied, her eyes opening for a few seconds to allow a glare at Carth’s face. “Onasi, do us all a favor, and shut up!”
“Ok, jeez, everything’s coming back to me now.” He whispered underneath his breath. Closing her eyes again, Bastila once again focused all of her energy on using the techniques that she had been taught months ago. Still, as she concentrated and fought to subdue the pain, one thought continued to run through her mind with end.
Revan, where are you?
*************************************************************
The snow circled around them, blinding their sights, but still, the battle continued on, the lightsabers meeting again and again, each time casting light into the storm. Taking a step back, the Sith spirit looked at Revan, its face without emotion.
You fight exceptionally well, Revan. But you are still nothing more than a mere child with a lightsaber.” It said, twirling it’s lightsaber in a mocking fashion.
“Really? I was going to say the same thing about you.” Revan replied, grinning with a sarcastic flavor. The Sith spirit’s eyes narrowing, both he and Revan were silent for what seemed like minutes, but in reality was only a few seconds. And then, the spirit’s laughter filled the air, the sound of it being enough to send shivers down Revan’s spine.
Tell me, Revan. You fight with the true passion of a Sith, and yet, you lack focus on the task before you. Why?” It said, the laughter ceasing as it started to speak. “What could possibly be more important than your own power, your own life?”
“The one I love.”
Ah, love. Such a strong emotion, and yet it works both ways. It can make you stronger, empower you to accomplish great things, and it can also bring you down, destroy you, and wipe out the essence of what you are.”
It is not your time to die yet, Revan. You have yet to accomplish your destiny. You do not yet realize your importance to the Force. Not just the Dark, not just the Light, but to itself as a whole. I shall leave this body, and allow you the option of dealing with the troubled young woman inside however you wish.”
“Uh, thanks?”
In time, young Revan, the Sith shall rise again, and it shall be the start of reign that will last for years. And in that time, you shall see that the Force has a destiny for us all. You are only at the beginning of yours.” The spirit’s voice beginning to fade, and with it, Anarra’s stance returned to what it had been before. The wound at her side still bleeding tremendously, she gave a quick cry of pain and collapsed to her knees as the Spirit forcefully left her body, her wound itself becoming buried in the snow. Taking a step towards her, Revan kept his saber activated, ready for any sign of an attack. The sound of muffled crying reached his ears, and as he stared down at the assassin, he felt nothing but pity for her.
“Anarra?” Her head raised, her semi-yellow eyes blazing in the snow storm. Grabbing her saber out of the snow, she returned to her feet, one hand covered the wound on her side. She rapidly backed away from Revan, fear lining her eyes.
“Anarra…” She looked at him, still backing away deeper into the snow. Finally, she turned her back to him, and ran towards the abandoned Enclave. Giving chase, Revan deactivated his lightsaber, although he did not return it to his belt. Anarra herself remained nothing more than echo to him through the Force, and reaching out through his bond with Bastila, he sent a simple thought to her.
She’s coming.
Last edited by Buffy's Shadow on Sun May 13, 2012 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 #93251  by Mandalorian
 
Nice emp,
Emp wrote:She's coming
Lol, here I imagined like a "omg :o" face close up moment.

 #93638  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Ok, I'm still working on Rift, but here's a little teaser of the next book that's coming soon :wink:

Image

 #95711  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Ok, major update here.

I've tried multiple times to finish the story. I've probably only got about 400 words right now. I can't seem to get into the 'groove' to finish the damn thing.

I'll keep trying, but I want your opinions on whether I should continue to work on it until its done, or just make a post explaining what the ending would be.

 #95712  by Mandalorian
 
Continue to work

 #95719  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Mandalorian wrote:Continue to work
Then do that I shall

 #95804  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Well, it's done. The next chapter is finally done. I've honestly got so much written for it that I had to split it in half, so here's the first part.
***********************************************
Chapter 17

“She’s coming back.” Bastila said, her eyes still closed as she concentrated on putting off the pain that flowed through her entire body. At her side, both Carth and Nomi looked up at her face.
“What?” Carth asked, running a hand over his eyes in a quick motion.
“Anarra, she’s heading back towards here.” Bastila replied, opening her eyes for a split second in order to provide emphasis on the statement. Withdrawing one of his blasters from his belt, Carth rose to his feet and peered into the distance. Beside him, Vima ignited her lightsaber, its blue blade almost impossible to see in the blinding snow storm.
“Damn it, we’re sitting gizka out here!” Carth yelled, pulling his other blaster out of its holster and flicking the safety off. Turning his head towards Nomi, he pointed with one of the blasters towards the drop ship.
“Nomi, help me get Bastila onto that shuttle, we’re heading back towards the ship.” Nodding silently, Nomi wrapped her arm around Bastila’s waist, and carefully helped her onto her feet. Bastila’s eyes were still closed, and at a quick glance, she appeared to be sleeping.
“Carth, look!” Vima shouted out, her eyes still trained on the rapidly approaching mass in the distance. Rapidly aiming his blasters, Carth let off a few shots, which blazed brightly within the blizzard. And then, within a few seconds time, a new light lit up, and the bolts were rapidly deflected back towards their origin. As they flew back towards him, Carth ducked as the shots flew overhead and slammed into the ancient stone of the Enclave, leaving blackened marks along the wall.
“Come on!” Carth shouted, grabbing Vima’s hand and running towards the shuttle. The shuttle itself was already running, and was hovering slightly, waiting for them to get on-board. Jumping for the ramp, Carth stumbled for a minute before he once again found his footing. Behind him, Vima rushed inside, deactivating her lightsaber in the process. As the shuttle took off into the sky, it left Revan and Anarra on the planet, utterly alone, and locked in combat.
*************************************************************As she stumbled her way up the stairs, Anarra could feel her entire body beginning to ‘shut down’. The wounds that Revan had inflicted on her were beginning to take their toll, each and every one of them feeling as if they were on fire. Behind her, she could hear Revan’s boots echoing on the ancient stone of the enclave. He was growing closer and closer with each passing second, obviously determined to finish what he had started.
In her hand, the crystal remained motionless, the dark aura still surrounding it. Part of her continued to beg for the spirit to come back and use her body, just long enough to kill Revan, and then she could die in peace. Still, whatever the spirit had done before, it had either been defeated or had left her body on its own free will, leaving her here, weakened and almost utterly defenseless.
“Anarra, come out! Whatever you think I’m going to do to you, I’m not. We can talk this out.” Revan’s voice echoed up to her, the sound of it everywhere around her, almost deafening her. Against her palm, the crystal was slowly beginning to heat up, threatening to burn her skin. A slight thread of pain running through her body, she wanted to drop the crystal, to let it shatter on the floor, but she couldn’t drop it, something in the back of her mind holding her back.
“Please, you have to trust me on this. You’re scared, I could see it in your eyes.” Again, his voice circled around her ears, pounding her brain again and again. She almost felt like crying, the pain inside her skull almost entirely unbearable.
“Anarra…” Revan started before he saw her emerge from the shadows on a balcony above him. There were tears freely falling down her face, the Sith crystal still gripped tightly in her hand.
SHUT UP!!” She screamed at him, her own voice slamming off of every possible surface.
“Anarra, wait!” Revan replied as he saw her start to run away into a higher area of the Enclave. Racing towards the stairs, he used every amount of strength left in his body to carry himself up, not wanting her to get away again. As she continued to run down the deserted hallways, the sound of her footsteps constantly echoed behind, essentially giving him a path from which to follow.
Rushing around the corner, he barely caught the sense of danger within the Force before it was too late. Rolling across the floor, he could hear Anarra’s lightsaber blade cutting into the stone floor, a few sparks being ignited in the process. Rapidly getting back onto his feet, Revan pulled his own blade off of his belt and ignited its blade, bringing it up just in time to block another attack from Anarra. Her style of dueling now was visibly different, and it showed in the way she moved with the saber. She wasn’t sure that she was going to win; she was only fighting because she felt like she had to.
As Anarra pulled her blade back, Revan quickly outstretched his palm, channeling the Force into a powerful push. Unable to react quickly enough, Anarra’s body flew backwards, eventually slamming into a wall with an almost shattering force. Her body falling to the ground, her saber rolled out from her grip and eventually came to a stop as Revan brought his boot gently down upon it, not destroying it, but leaving it out of her reach.
Rolling over onto her back, Anarra groaned, a large wave of pain flowing through her body. As she opened her eyes, she realized that he was almost completely on top of her, and she scrambled to attempt to crawl away, and upon finding all the exits blocked one way or another, she pushed herself further and further into the wall, hoping that the ancient structure would fall down and allow her to escape.
The point of his saber just inches away from her face, Revan realized he could end this now, rid the galaxy of one more faction of the Sith. Part of him urged him to do it, but yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it. She had been close to him at one point, and it was because of himself that she had fallen, he wouldn’t deny that. If anything, it was his fault that she was the way she was now. As he looked at her, he noticed the ancient Sith crystal that was still clenched in her hand.
The look of smug confidence that had adorned her face earlier was now gone, replaced with tear-stained cheeks and tightly closed eyes. It was almost as if she was an entirely different person now. The only thing that truly remained was the crystal, and as he looked at it, he felt ripples in the Force as the spirit inside it continued to exert its influence upon Anarra. If he destroyed it, would it bring the young woman back into the Light?
Please….please just make it quick.” She managed to force out of her lips, her voice nothing more than a whimper. Her hair covered almost half of her face, making it nearly impossible to see the look of fear and sadness in her eyes, although the blue light from Revan’s blade illuminated her entire body. Still crying, Anarra waited for the blade to slice through her.
**************************************************
Watching her from behind the glass window, Carth keep his communicator gripped in his hand. He had heard nothing from Revan so far, and as rare as the moment was, he actually felt a small amount of fear in his heart. After all that the three of them had been through, would this be how it would end? Revan’s lifeless body left to rot on the otherwise deserted planet, leaving behind a wife and a child that would never know him? The thoughts were too depressing to even completely fathom.
Hearing footsteps from behind him, he turned, his eyes eventually landing on that of his son. His son was the virtual spitting image of himself as a younger man now, with almost the same personality to boot. Looking past his father, Dustil spend a few moments looking at the woman that he had heard his father describe countless times before.
“Anything new?”
“The medics have assured me that she’s in the usual condition for a woman in the situation that she’s in right now. Still, I’ve got a bad feeling about something.”
“You mean Revan.”
“Quit taking a look into my mind.” Carth replied, his tone lacking any sense of the playful joking that the sentence would have implied. “Yeah. He’s still down there, with that Sith woman. I’ve already let him battle a Sith Lord alone before, and even then, there was much more riding on that victory. Still, this one is different.”
“How so?”
“It involves the life of an, as of yet, unborn child. Really, if that doesn’t sum it up, I don’t know what will.” The hallway drew silent as neither of them spoke, their mind instead focusing on other thoughts and memories. Behind the glass, the doctors continued to help Bastila deliver her and Revan’s child.
*************************************************
“I’m not going to kill you.” Revan said, deactivating his lightsaber and letting it fall to the floor, the weapon rolling to a stop near Anarra’s own. Only moving her head up slightly, Anarra’s cheeks were still wet from the tears that she was still crying, her brown hair surrounding her face. Looking down at her, Revan took a few steps back, kicking Anarra’s weapon back towards her, the cylinder rolling to a stop in front of her hand.
“You’ve got a choice. You can kill me and leave here, in my ship, leaving my child without a father.” He continued, looking back at her with emotion in his eyes that defied description. “Or you can come back to the Council with me; let them decide if you can be a Jedi again.”
“What makes you think they would want me back?” She whimpered back at him, her voice still lacking the strong tone that it once did. “We’ve all heard what the Council does to fallen Jedi. Or did you forget what happened to one of your Jedi Generals?”
“Enlighten me.”
“She was the only one who went back to face them. They exiled her, stripped her of her lightsaber, and kicked her out into the galaxy, alone, and cut off from the Force.” She answered, her back now rested against the wall while her eyes met Revan’s boots, her mind unable to meet his eyes. “Is that what you would want to see? Me, left alone in the galaxy like I was all those years ago?”
“You were never alone.”
“You have a strange way of perceiving a person’s memories.”
“You said we met once before, after you escaped from the Mandalorian prison. Care to explain?” Casting her gaze back onto the floor, Anarra stifled another set of tears before she slowly started to retell the tale that had played out inside her mind a million times before.
*****************************************************
Outside the hanger bay, the battle continued to rage, the space above Malachor itself ignited into a hail of light and sound, the Republic and Mandalorian fleets engaged in a deadly ‘game’ where lives were the pawns. The sound of the battle leaked into the otherwise empty hanger, accompanying the sound of Revan’s footsteps echoing all around him.
Mandalore himself had challenged him to a single duel, from which only one would walk away, carrying with him the fate of the galaxy. Running over the list of possible scenarios in his head, Revan didn’t let the anticipation affect his judgment. He
would walk away from this, the Republic would be saved, and he could feel some measure of peace in knowing that he had done his duty as a Jedi Knight of the Galactic Republic.
Extending out his palm, he heard the door in front of him beginning to open. Drawing his lightsaber from its place on his belt, he kept the weapon inactive in his hand, not wanting to give off the illusion that he was in some way afraid of the Mandalorians. If you showed fear to them, they would simply feed off of it, and would continue to fight on, albeit stronger than before.
As the doors parted in front of him, there were no Mandalorian warriors waiting to face him, no gun turrets, and no war droids. Nothing but an empty hallway. Venturing slowly into the deeper part of the ship, Revan kept his lightsaber at the ready, his thumb hovering over the activation button, his sense already attuned with the surrounding areas thanks to the Force.
Behind him, he thought for a moment that he could hear the soft pitter-patter of footsteps, but as he turned his head in order to investigate, he found himself confronted with the same emptiness that he had already seen. Turning his head forwards once again, he continued on his path, once again being met with nothing but empty rooms. Occasionally, the ship would rock slightly as blaster fire made its way through its deflector shields and managed to score a hit, but other than that, again nothing but the silence.
Again the footsteps echoed to his ears from behind, and once again as he turned to confront the source, there was nothing but the silence once again. As he once again turned his head back, this time he realized that he was no longer alone.
Up ahead of him, there was figure shrouded in a black cloak, the aura around her equally as black, the figure’s appearance clearly feminine. Cautiously approaching her, Revan found that she mimicked his every move, her face completely unreadable or recognizable behind the black hood that surrounded her face. She said nothing to him, although her presence spoke volumes to him.
“Hello, Revan.” She finally said, coming to a stop in front of him, making no movements to grab a weapon of any kind.
“I’m here to face Mandalore, move aside.”
“Still charming, to the last.” The figure replied, her voice containing the smallest of chuckles. “I’m not surprised that you don’t recognize me. Time changes how one looks, how one feels, and how one perceives their surroundings. Still, I’m a little hurt to say the least.”
“I’ve seen too much of hurt in this war to fully give a damn as to what you’re saying.” Revan answered, the irritation in his voice overwhelmingly apparent.
“Well, maybe once you see who now stands before you’ll realize how much you should care.” And with that, the figure pulled back her hood, revealing a young woman with brown hair, her eyes gold with the flow of the Dark Side. As his eyes took in every inch of her face, his mind still couldn’t comprehend the person that now stood before him.
“Anarra?”

**************************************************
“We exchanged a few more pointless sentences, and then we fought. In the end, it cost me more than it do you.”
“I severed your arm.” Revan replied plainly, the memories of the event slowly returning to his mind. Much of the events surrounding the duel remained shrouded in a ‘fog’, but he could remember his younger self fighting the young woman in fevered combat, eventually ending with himself the victor. He had gone on to fight Mandalore, and once again emerge victorious, the Mandalorian fleets crumbling without their leader. In the end, the war left the Republic crippled, and along with it, thousands upon thousands of people had been permanently scared by the events of the war, the young woman standing in front of him being no exception.
“Yes. Still, after the war there was nothing left for me. I wandered the galaxy, eventually falling in with some smugglers I eventually came to call my family.”
“And eventually that business led you to finding out the Sith Crystal around your neck was periodically possessing you.”
“What?” Anarra asked, obviously confused. Opening her palm, the crystal continued to glow red, giving off a small ray of light inside the otherwise dark Enclave. She had worn the object ever since she had found it after escaping from the Mandalorian prison, and had never once given thought to what the piece of ‘jewelry’ had really been.
“It’s a Sith Crystal. If you had done more research on the subject, you would have realized that when in contact with the wearer for long, extended periods of time, it can begin to exert its influence on that person’s mind. You were no different.”
“I…I never knew. I found it when I was trying to survive in the wilderness after I escaped. I…I only kept it because it made me feel like I wasn’t alone.”
“And you kept it with you afterwards so you would never forget what had happened to you.”
“Yes.” Anarra replied, her voice beginning to sound more like it had before, but without the thread of darkness that it had contained for the past years.
“Let me see it.” He said, holding out his hand for the object. Looking back at him, Anarra was silent as she unclenched her fist, and the crystal fell out of her hand into Revan’s waiting palm. Giving the object only a moment’s look, he let it fall to the ground and promptly shattered it with his boot. Almost instantly, Anarra’s head snapped back, her yellow eyes glowing for just a moment more before she let out a scream. Taking a step back, Revan watched the scene, hoping that he had done the right thing.
GODS! IT’S BURNING ME!” Her entire body falling to the stone floor, Anarra continued to scream, the rest of the words coming out as nothing more than a jumbled mess of gibberish. More tears fell down her cheek, themselves hot as the yellow from Anarra’s eyes slowly began to fade away, whatever force that was affecting them obviously using a painful technique. Finally, the sensation stopped, and all that was left was the young woman lying on the floor, still crying from the pain that coursed through her body.
Lifting her head up, she struggled to see Revan clearly through the tears that continued to fall down her cheeks. Taking a slow step towards her, he knelt down onto his knee, offering the woman a kind smile. Wiping the tears away onto the sleeve of her tunic, she looked back at him, unsure of what to say. Extending out his hand, Revan watched as she slowly rested her hand onto his, allowing him to help her back onto her feet.
“Anarra.” He said, the words leaving his lips in a nostalgic manner. Looking back at him, she offered a weak smile, the gesture offset by the numerous amounts of dirt covering her body and her reddened cheeks. Extending out his palm, Revan called the woman’s saber to his hand, twirling it in his hand for a moment before he rested the object into her hand.
“Welcome back.”
*************************************************************
Resting her head back into the pillow, Bastila let out a deep breath, happy that the pain was finally gone from her body. Sweat still covered her forehead, and her entire felt somewhat numb, but still, the worst of it was over. At least the lights in here weren’t as bright and blinding as they had been inside the medical bay.
A gentle knock came on the door, and as her eyes shifted over towards it, she nearly felt her heart leap out of her chest as Revan nearly ran into the room, embracing her in a hug that could have nearly broken bones. Weakly returning the gesture, she kissed him on his cheek, the gesture being repaid as Revan kissed her on the lips. Looking at him, she smiled.
“They said that they hadn’t heard from you. I was almost starting to get worried.” She told him, the words laced with a large dose of sarcasm. Smiling back at her, Revan pulled up a nearby chair, laying his hand on top of hers, their fingers soon becoming entwined. Eying his body over, Bastila's eyes flashed with a small look of concern.
“You do realize that your clothes are soaking wet, don’t you?”
“You know, I didn’t.” He replied, the usual twinkle back in his eyes. “Bastila, look, I need to tell you what happened with that Sith woman.”
“You killed her, didn’t you?”
“Not exactly, the person we saw was only occupying her body. I destroyed this crystal that she had around her neck, and everything that I sensed inside her that was tainted by the Dark Side was gone. She’s nothing more than a scared young woman now, lost in a world where she has no-one.”
“You’re telling me you let her go.”
“No. She’s here on the ship. I had Carth give her a room until we get back to Coruscant.”
“Do you think the Council will accept her back?”
“She doesn’t think so. She thinks they’re going to exile her, possibly even cut her off from the Force.”
“That sentence is rarely ever given out though. Why would she fear it?”
“She hasn’t been in complete control of her emotions and actions for close to six years now, Bastila, she’s got to be scared of everything that’s happening around her.”
As Revan finished his sentence, the door to the room opened, and as it did, both Bastila and Revan’s eyes turned towards the figure that entered.
“Oh, am I interrupting something?” Carth said, chuckling slightly amongst his hushed tone. His eyes drifting towards the two bundles that his friend had in his arms, Revan felt every word rush out of his body as he realized what he was looking at.
“I thought you two would like to have some visitors.” Carth continued, nodding his head towards the two bundles. As he continued to approach them, Revan continued to stare at the two infants, both of them sleeping peacefully. His mind going blank, he turned back towards Bastila, her face adorned with a smile.
“They’re ours, Revan. Our daughter and our son.”
“Congratulations.” Carth added, smiling as he handed the girl to Revan, his friend still speechless as he took his daughter into his arms. Handing the son to Bastila, Carth gave Revan a pat on the back and then headed to the door, shutting it behind him. Moving back into the chair, Revan looked at the sleeping infant he now held in his arms, and then at the one that Bastila held in her own arms, and he finally found the words to say.
“They're beautiful.”
Last edited by Buffy's Shadow on Fri Jul 27, 2012 3:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.

 #95899  by Buffy's Shadow
 
Well, here we are. The last chapter of this story. I've put a lot of time and effort into this story, and I think it shows alot in this chapter. For everyone reading, hope you enjoyed it! And remember, TOR isn't related to KOTOR at all. It never happened :wink:

Disclaimer: I don't own KOTOR
*************************************************
Chapter 18

As the door opened once again, Anarra looked up in time to see Carth giving her nothing more than quick glance before he started back towards the bridge. Falling in step behind him, albeit slowly, she couldn’t find the courage to voice her thoughts. She wanted to ask how they both were, how the infants were doing, but every time she considered how to word the questions, it failed and left her feeling even worse than she had before.
“Alright, look, you’ve obviously got a question on your mind, so just ask already and quit following me like a damn ghost.” He told her, whirling around, the emotion on his face halfway between serious and joking.
“I…I…” She stumbled, desperately trying to find the right words. “I was just…wondering how they’re doing.”
“They? You mean Revan and Bastila? Fine. After all they’ve been through, they deserve a little moment of happiness. Hell, they deserve a few years’ worth of it.” He replied, leaning up against a nearby wall. Behind him, the soldiers continued on with their regular duties, paying the two of them no heed, except for the occasional salute. Keeping her eyes plastered to the ground, Anarra found herself unable to respond to him, the words she wanted to say slipping away in her mind. Looking back at her, Carth smirked a little bit.
“Tongue-tied?”
“You could say that.” Her response was quiet, as if she was judging each and every way that her words could be interpreted.
“To be honest, I don’t blame you. I’ve seen how the Force can affect a person’s mind, most of my experiences were up close and personal.” Looking at her once again, he noticed how skinny she looked now that she was out of the tunic that she had been wearing when she had been brought on-board. He didn’t even want to guess how long she had gone without food. Pushing himself off of the wall and back onto his feet, he gave the young woman a small smile.
“You look hungry. What do you say we see what we can get around here.” Leaning in closer to her, he smiled again. “Trust me though, the food around here isn’t anything grand.” The gesture succeeded in bringing a smile to the woman’s face, however small it was. Her feet slowly falling into step, she let him guide her towards the ship’s mess hall.

Her fork dragged over the food in front of her, her stomach obviously needing the nourishment, but the rest of her body refusing to let her swallow the food. Watching her, Carth felt sorry for her. She obviously was carrying a lot of hurt inside her, in some ways reminding him of how he had carried his hatred for Saul for all those years, his every thought focused on that single emotion so that he wouldn’t have to relive the images of his wife dying in his arms.
“So, you’re a veteran as well.” He finally said, trying his best to break the tension that lay invisible in the air between them. Looking up from the tray in front of her, Anarra looked back at him with an obviously confused look adorning her face. She felt tired beyond belief, but sleep remained elusive, and when she managed to drift into it, it was filled with nightmares that she was barely able to awaken herself from.
“The one against the Mandalorians.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess so. How did you know?”
“Revan told me. Plus that tattoo underneath you wrist doesn’t leave much to the imagination.” Casting a glance at her arm, Anarra saw that the sleeve of the outfit that she was wearing had fallen down slightly, exposing the set of numbers that the Mandalorians had burned into her skin. Just looking at them brought back the pain of that moment, and pulling her sleeve back down, she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to force the memories out of her mind.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up any lingering memories. Trust me, we all had our share of them afterwards.”
“I imagine so.” She replied, finally shoving a piece of the food into her mouth and swallowing it, her stomach ‘thanking’ her in the process. To be honest, she felt sick beyond all belief, mostly due to the lack of sleep, food, and a calm state of mind. The two of them once again fell silent, either of them not wanting to bring up the war in any way.
“So…” Carth started, searching his entire mind for a new conversation topic. “Alright, look, I’m not gonna pretend that you’re feeling alright. I can see plain as day that you’re beating yourself up over everything you’ve done in the past few years.”
“That obvious huh?”
“Obvious? Trust me, I’ve been there myself. And let me tell you, berating yourself inside for the actions that you’ve taken part in doesn’t make you feel better. It only makes you weaker.”
“So what’s your story then?” Anarra snapped back at him, a noticeable strength in her voice, but it still lacked the power that it had when she had been tainted by the Dark Side. “You get your squad killed in combat? Accidently killed a few innocent civilians? Trust me, I’ve done all of that and more. What’s worse, I didn’t have any say in it.”
“I watched my wife die in my arms because my fleet couldn’t get there quick enough.” Looking back at him, she fell silent, already regretting how she had worded her sentence.
“How?”
“Malak’s attack on Telos. It’s my homeworld. I remember getting there, the entire surface of the planet burning underneath my feet. I…I found my wife, and I remember screaming for the medics to come, but they weren’t fast enough.”
“I remember hearing about the razing. It was all over the holocasts.” She replied, once again playing around with her food. “I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I put those demons to rest a long time ago.” Pushing the tray away from her body, Anarra got back onto her feet.
“I…I just want to be alone for a little while. Please, excuse me.” Turning her back to the Commander, Anarra walked slowly towards the entrance to the mess hall, her mind once again a jumbled mess of emotions, memories, and thoughts of where her future would lead.
************************************************************
A Few Days Later, Coruscant Jedi Temple

The sun shone in through the glass surrounding the Council chambers, a virtual contrast to what it had been like only a few weeks earlier. As she stood before the gathered group of Jedi Masters, Anarra could feel her heart beat beginning to steadily increase, and upon closing her eyes, she tried to calm herself, drawing upon the Force for just a bare second. Opening her eyes once again, she fixed her eyes on the group once again.
“Anarra. It is good to see you again.” Nomi Sunrider said, her tone remaining somewhat devoid of emotion, but not unexpectedly, considering the situation. A few feet behind her, Revan watched the entire scene from the doorway, remaining completely silent. Anarra, for the most part, recognized all of the Council, many of them having taught her in the past. Still, as they watched her, she could feel their eyes bearing into her, their minds already curious as to which side of the Force she now relied on.
“The same to you, Master Nomi.”
“Do you know why we have called you here?” Vrook spoke up, his voice containing nothing but thinly hid contempt.
“You’ve called me here to answer for my crimes against the Jedi Order.”
“Realize that you yourself are not truly to blame, but instead it is the Sith spirit that was trapped inside the crystal that you wore around your neck. Still, questions must be answered.”
“We are not here to judge you.” Vima added to her mother’s monologue.
“Where exactly did you find that crystal? We need to know the source of it if we hope to avoid any other Jedi encountering more of them.”
“Near the Mandalorian prison on Eres III. I doubt you’ll be able to find anything there considering that the fires there are still burning.”
“Still, we’ll ask the Republic to send a team there to search. The risk of these Sith crystals is too great to completely ignore.” Master Kavar said in addition, having remained silent for the entire duration of the meeting so far. “You became controlled by one, and you would have destroyed the entire Jedi Order if you could have. Naturally, you should see our point.”
“What can you do? I stopped being part of the Jedi Order a long time ago. If anything, I’m only here to hear what you have to say.”
“A member of the Jedi Order or not, you still need to answer for your crimes.”
“May I speak freely for a moment?” Anarra asked, a few members of the Council eying her curiously. The entire chamber grew silent for a moment before Nomi gave the young woman her answer.
“You may.”
“You say that I’m committed a crime against the Jedi Order, by killing numerous Jedi when I was under the control of a Sith crystal. But it’s really you who should be under trial for committing a crime.” She started, the final part of her sentence being met with a few gasps from the Council members. Not letting up, she continued. “How many innocent civilians, men, women and their children, died in the Mandalorian Wars because you wouldn’t give the Republic the aid it desperately needed? How many star systems have become lifeless wastelands because you wouldn’t aid in their defense? How many Jedi are dead because of a threat that you deemed unworthy of your attention?”
We are not on trial here, you-“ Atris started before Anarra interrupted her, her voice gaining more and more strength and clarity by the second.
“I’m right. Don’t sit there and lie to me by saying that you’re here to punish me for crimes that I committed while I was under the control of some dead Sith Lord. In truth, it would never have happened if you had simply done your damn duty and protected innocent civilians!” Turning her back towards the Council members, Anarra reached into her boot, and with the precision of a trained assassin, she turned and tossed the knife past Vrook, the blade slamming into the glass, which promptly shattered into a million pieces, each and every single shard falling to the city below. Running towards the broken window, she called on the Force and jumped, soaring over Vrook and Nomi’s chairs and finally landing directly in front of the window.
Drawing their lightsabers, the Council members waited for her to make her next move. Giving the room once last look, Anarra saw Revan continuing to watch the scene from the entrance to the chambers. Smiling at him, she gave him a fake salute and then jumped, her body slowly falling towards the city below. Racing to the window, both the Council members and Revan looked down for any trace of the woman. As their eyes looked over every visible square inch, they found nothing but the steady flow of speeder traffic in the streets below.
*****************************************************
As the sun set in the distance, casting its yellow glow over the entire surface of the city, Bastila was silent as she stared across the city’s surface, the speeder traffic still refusing to die down, even as the night was almost upon them. In the room behind her, Vaner and Kera were fast asleep, their minds completely calm as she sensed them through the Force.
Hearing the soft pitter-patter of footsteps behind her, she turned to see Revan walking out onto the balcony, wrapping his arm around her as he came closer. They stood there, silent as the sun continued to set. After the events of the past few weeks, it seemed strange for everything to be almost completely calm and quiet, although here they were now, alone with their children, with only the sound of the passing speeder bike traffic to accompany them.
“So, what happened to Anarra?” She asked, finally breaking the chain of silence between them. Tilting his head towards her, Revan smiled, already seeing the image passing through his eyes once again.
“She got away. Broke the window and jumped out.”
“Do you think she got away?”
“I imagine that she’s out there somewhere, trying to scratch out some sort of existence for herself. Anywhere that she is, I’m sure that she’s a lot happier now than she was before.” There was a sort period of silence between them again before he leaned in to kiss her, the sun warming their bodies. As she returned the gesture, Bastila could already hear Kera’s voice erupting through the apartment, her mind sending ripples through the Force that were practically screaming for her.
Pulling back, she smiled at Revan before she walked past him and back into the apartment. Turning his gaze back onto the glowing city for just one more moment, he focused on the figure of a female, standing on the railing of a nearby building, itself almost completely decrypt. Giving a smile, he threw a salute in her direction, and then headed back inside.
*****************************************************
Watching the balcony of the apartment, Anarra watched as Bastila headed back inside, the ripples in the Force from her children already able to be sensed by her. As she continued to watch Revan, she felt him sense her, giving her a salute in the process. Smiling slightly, she watched as he himself headed inside to join Bastila and their children.
Turning back towards the stairs, she felt a familiar presence appear behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw her mother start to materialize, the light around her spirit glowing brighter than the setting sun in the distance. Turning around to fully face her mother, she smiled as she looked at her mother’s face.
“Anarra.” She said, the single word speaking volumes without the aid of other words. “Your path is now clear. From now on, everything you do is of your own free will.”
“I love you.” Her daughter replied, the sentence being met with a smile from her.
“Remember that you are never truly alone. My time here is at an end. May the Force be with you.” And with that, the spirit began to fade away, eventually becoming one with the glowing rays of the setting sun. Reaching into a bag beside her, Anarra pulled out a brown cloak and wrapped it around her head, pulling it down slightly over her eyes. Carrying the rest of the bag over her shoulder, she started walking, unsure of where she was going, but in some ways, more on track than she had ever been.


The End

 #95911  by Clank
 
Great story ill contact george lucas so we can talk about a movie...

 #95921  by Mandalorian
 
Clank wrote:Great story ill contact george lucas so we can talk about a movie...
You are a bit too late there alex. Contacted them before it was finished. They didn't respond :o

Great story emp :)

 #95922  by Buffy's Shadow
 
^ Thanks you two :)