A/N: As I said before, this is my first KOTORII fan fiction. I'm taking total creative license with this one, so please don't be mad if it's a little OOC, or very OOC for that matter. This is completely made up, a sort of "what if" situation, before the Exile goes to battle Darth Traya. Spoilers in the end if you haven't finished the game. Any sort of criticism is welcome here. This story is also done in script format, so it may not be as descriptive as one may hope. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, I worked hard on it. I'll edit it if I find any typos that I haven't already picked up.
-x illusion.
Fighting It- Part I
(A woman in her late twenties, Jude Amoura, runs down a long, dark corridor. Her eyes are shut tight and her hands are covering her ears in vain. It seems she can feel nothing but intense pain, although the source is not from herself. Finally, she comes to a dimly lit, circular cave, and sees a few obviously recognizable faces. She however, backs away from them.)
Mical: (Worried.) Jude, are you alright?
Jude: (Slowly backs into a cold, rocky wall.) Get away, get away from me all of you!
Mira: (Taking a hesitant, small step towards Jude.) Hon, it's just us... we're your friends.
Jude: (Yelling at them, almost at the brink of tears.) You're lying! You've all been lying to me!
Bao-Dur: (Scared, reassuring.) General, we're standing here beside you. No weapons, just us.
Jude: (Still yelling, drawing her silver and golden lightsabers out from her belt.) I don't believe you!
Atton: (Walking towards Jude, his arms outstretched for her.) Babe, you've got it all wrong-
Jude: (Cutting off Atton.) Shut up! Don't call me that. You're a liar!
Atton: Why would we lie to you?
Jude: It doesn't matter, you did, all of you. You've done nothing but lie to me ever since I met you. (She lets out a small sob, unable to hold back tears.) Kreia was right, I don't need you, and you all are turning on me!
Mical: (Trying to make Jude understand.) No, Jude, Kreia is poisoning your mind, manipulating you. She's done it to all of us.
Jude: (Withdrawing her lightsabers, falling to the ground in tears.) I... I don't know! (She cries for a while, and all look on to her, feeling her pain.)
Visas: Look inside your heart, you can see it, how what you're thinking isn't real.
Jude: (Screaming.) I can't! I can't see anything! I can't hear anything! All I can feel is the pain on this planet! It's consuming me!
Atton: Block it out Jude! Fight it! (Angry, but only because he is scared for her.) Damn it, you've done it before!
Jude: (On her knees, bending over and holding her stomach.) I can't! It's everywhere. How can I block out everything? (Sobbing uncontrollably.) There's so much... it's so loud...
Atton: (Quickly runs down to her, and gets on his knees to reach her level. He grabs her shoulders and forces her to sit up.) Stop it, Jude! Stop this right now! I want you to get up and fight this. Fight it like you've fought everything else. It's how you've survived on this whole damned journey, and I'm not going to let you just sit here and cry while the Sith take over the galaxy.
Jude: (Scared, hitting his arms away from her.) Get away from me! (Standing up, drawing her lightsabers once more.) I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. I should've just died on Peragus, and all those lives I had to take would've been saved! (To Bao-Dur.) You brought back all those memories of war, of battle! You fed me with all those lies about how what we were doing was 'the right thing'! How can death be the right thing? (To Mical.) You! You and your innocence, supporting me while I allowed for the advancement of two baneful wars! (To Mira.) Your aspirations, they sounded so hopeful... piecing together the broken parts of the galaxy. I wanted to help you! (To Visas.) You had fallen so far, I wanted to bring you to the light, to save you! (Almost whispering, to Atton still on the ground.) I... I loved you. (Atton gives a look on his face like he felt his heart drop into his stomach. Jude, yelling again, with difficulty.) You all took advantage of that! You're corrupting me!
Visas: (Serious, yet with a bit of fear.) No Jude, it's Kreia! She's a Dark Jedi! You aren't making your own decisions now, she's in your head! She's telling you all these things that aren't true so you'll let the Force just die. That's what she wants! She wants the Force to die!
Jude: (In disbelief.) No! No one would want that!
Mira: (Yelling now, impatient.) Don't you get it, Jude? She's been lying, she wants you to suffer, she wants everyone to suffer, she wants you to kill, she's making you her tool, adding to the destruction of the universe without having to get her hands dirty.
Mical: (Softer.) You must see it, Jude, you must find your own thoughts within the web that Kreia has tangled in your mind.
Mira: (More impatient than before.) Don't think about it. That's the problem with all the Jedi. They think to much without seeing what's really in front of them. Look at Atton. (Jude's eyes remain on Mira, and her body remains in a fighting stance. Mira points at him and yells.) Look at him! (Only Jude's eyes dart to him, her body still.) Don't lie like you did last time and say you can't create relationships with anyone right now, because we're past that. (Jude takes a step towards Atton, Atton stands.) Look at him, focus on him, and you'll find it in yourself that what you're saying isn't really coming from your mouth. You'll realize that we're only here to help you and protect you. You'll see a thought that is entirely your own, and follow it to what you truly feel in your heart.
Jude: (Confused, but she reaches out her hand for Atton. He takes it, and she closes her eyes, searching within herself. She sees Peragus, and their unorthodox first meeting, the day he taught her pazaak on the Ebon Hawk, how he opened up to her on Nar Shaddaa and revealed his dark past, how much it meant to her. She can feel Atton's reactions as well, the lust he felt when she opened the door to the prison cell, how he let her win at pazaak just so he could see her smile, how shockingly comfortable he felt, telling Jude his story, and feeling a weight on his shoulders lift up, how secretly happy he was to be awakened to the force by her. She also sees something unexpected- his hate for Kreia, and the day on Telos when she turned him into her 'pawn', when he confronted her on the ship and tried to break free of her, and how he was devastatingly unsuccessful. Jude follows these moments to the stories Kreia told her, the darkness she could feel in Kreia's twisted philosophies, and the bond she desperately wished to break free of, she isolates the bond within her mind, and realizes that Kreia truly his filling her head with lies.) I...
Atton: (Pulls Jude in closely, embracing her, holding her like he never wants to let go. She hugs him back, and after a short while breaks away. She has stopped crying, and Atton wipes away her tears with his thumbs.) You feel it now, don't you?
Jude: (Nods, and looks to Mira, with a look of thanks.) I have to stop her.
Atton: We'll go with you
Jude: (Breaking away from his grasp.) No, I have to do this alone.
Atton: (Shocked.) Not a chance! There's-
Mical: (Interrupting.) She is right.
Visas: I agree, this is a battle she must fight on her own.
Atton: (Reluctantly stepping to the side, to allow her passage to the Trayus Core.) You know how to reach us if you need to.
Jude: (Kisses Atton on the cheek, and powers up her lightsabers. She runs to the other side of the cave, passing by Visas, Mical, Mira, and Bao-Dur, who send her feelings of comfort. She pauses in front of the corridor taking a moment to compose herself, then ready to fight, she looks back at her party one last time, and makes her way to her final battleground, fading into the darkness.)
(The group gathers closer together, in a small circle.)
Atton: (To Mical and Visas.) I can't believe you let her on her own like that, something bad is going to happen to her, I know it.
Mira: She's a big girl Atton, she'll be fine.
Atton: (Sighs.) Hey, that whole 'follow your heart' speech was out of character for you, what gives? (Pause.) You aren't getting all soft on me, are you?
Mira: (Nonchalant.) Oh, don't give me that, I got to kill two targets with one shot, she gave in to her feelings for you, and got up the sense to go kick Kreia's Sith ass. (Long pause.)
Bao-Dur: (Breaking the long silence.) Well, are we going to stay here, or go back to the ship?
Visas: It is best we return to the ship. We should not be so close to her when she is at battle, we may be inclined to break our promise to let her face this challenge alone.
Atton: (Defiant.) Hey, I didn't promise anything!
Mical: It does not matter, we should be prepared to leave when she returns.
(All but Atton, who crosses his arms angrily, nod in approval and start towards the ship. Atton looks to the party, then to the corridor, then back to the party again. He leans on a rock near the center of the cave, planting himself there, to wait for Jude's return.)
TBC