Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka looked sullen as they parked their spaceship on Mustafar. Emiya, in particular, was filled with utter dread. He knew that today might be the very day that he forever lost the woman he loved.
She was there off in the distance, her robes making her hard to identify. Yet he knew it was her in an instant. There was still an innocence, a longing in her face that still belonged to the Sakura Matou he knew. He felt relieved since this meant he hadn't completely lost her yet. But was he already past the point of no return now?
There was only one way to find out.
He ran out of the ship and straight towards her, despite Rin calling for him to stop. He never slowed and never turned back until he was in Sakura's arms.
"Senpai..." she said. "I saw your ship. Did you come for me?"
"Of course I did," Shirou said. "I promised to protect you didn't I? Well, I'm here now."
"It's alright, Senpai," she replied. He could sense the happiness, the relief in her voice. "Everything is going to be alright."
He knew that this happiness was built on sand, however. He knew what Sakura had done, how far she had fallen. And even though he loved her, even though he had steadfastly refused to hurt her despite fearing things might come to this, he had to stop her before things got any worse.
"Sakura." Emiya said. "I've...heard things about you."
"What things?" she asked.
"Have you been hurting people?" Shirou replied, pulling back, the dread having returned with a vengeance. "Is that what you did here? What you did back at the temple?"
"Senpai..." the joy in her face had vanished. It was replaced by an inscrutable expression, her eyes hollow, her lips flat.
"T...Tohsaka told me that the one who massacred the Jedi disciples...the one who killed those younglings...was you." Emiya stuttered, the creeping fear evident for all to hear.
"Tohsaka-senpai said that?" Sakura said, her words spoken in a monotone.
"Yes. And she told me you were here disposing of the remaining allies of Chancellor Matou. I came here right after he took over as the Galactic Emperor."
"Senpai, I..." there was anguish in her voice. There was hurt.
"I'll help you, Sakura. We'll help you. I know that you love me, isn't that enough?" Shirou said.
"No!" Sakura replied. "It wasn't enough! It could never be enough! I couldn't have saved us if I didn't get these powers, Senpai!" she nearly screamed.
"It's alright, Sakura. You can come away with me. You can start living with me, and Rin and Ilya! Heck, we could even find out where Taiga is and-"
"No, Senpai," Sakura replied her expression growing firm. "I'm not going to run anymore. With my powers, no one can hurt me, no one can hurt us! Chancellor Matou, my grandfather." her face morphed into one of vicious bloodlust. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to make sure he can't hurt me or anyone else! And then you and I can rule the galaxy! We'll make things the way we want them to be!"
"Sakura..." Shirou stuttered, as she desperately embraced him again.
"I'll protect us now, Senpai. I won't let you suffer anymore." she said. Her voice was pleading, begging, for him to stay with her.
He pulled away. "I can't accept that," he said, on the verge of tears. "I can't accept how you've changed! Tohsaka was right, Sakura. You...you're losing yourself!"
"Senpai!" she screamed, and a shadow started to creep over her. Black lines were wrapping themselves around her body. "I...I don't want to hear any more about Tohsaka! The Jedi turned against me, don't you turn against me!"
"Sakura..." Emiya said "Let go of this shadow! Don't do this to us! You...you're going down a path I can't follow!"
"Senpai...is that Tohsaka?! Why is Tohsaka-senpai here?!" Sakura yelled, erupting in rage as she spotted Rin watching them from the sidelines.
"Sakura, she's here to help-"
"LIAR!" the shadow was starting to cover the floor. "You...you brought her here to kill me!"
Shirou was enveloped in the darkness before he knew it. It was squeezing him, crushing him!
No, no, it can't end like this, Sakura wouldn't...
"Let him go!" Rin bellowed as Sakura's shadow continued to crush Shirou Emiya. "Let him go, Sakura!"
The shadow dissipated, and Emiya fell to the floor, unconscious.
She couldn't believe her eyes. Sakura couldn't believe she had done that to Emiya, to the man she...she...
No, it wasn't her. It was Tohsaka. She was destroying everything Sakura cared about, just like she always did!
"You...YOU TURNED HIM AGAINST ME!" Sakura yelled.
"You have done that yourself." Rin replied, appearing completely unfazed by the outburst.
"You will not take him from me!" Sakura retorted, the bloodlust evident on her face.
"Your anger and your lust for power have already done that." Rin replied coldly. She checked Emiya-kun's body. She could still feel a faint pulse.
"Why do you do this?! Why do you always hate me so much?!" Sakura said. "After everything I did for him, everything I did to create a safe galaxy where I could protect him, why did you have to ruin it all?!"
"Listen to yourself, you idiot," Rin said. "All you have accomplished is letting Zouken twist your mind until you became the very thing you were supposed to protect the Republic against."
"Hehe...hehehehe!" Sakura began to giggle. "This is how it always is with you, isn't it? Always acting like you're better than me! Always treating me like a fool, a nuisance?! You've always hated me so much, haven't you?!"
"Well, right now, I do hate you," Rin said. "I hate what an utterly stupid and impulsive woman you are. How you're such a fragile snowflake that you kept bowing to Zouken's will again and again while constantly lying to yourself. Face it, Sakura, all you've done is destroy your life with your own two hands."
"No, you're wrong. I've saved this galaxy. I've brought peace, security, justice, and freedom to my new Empire! But you're not going to accept that, are you?!" her expression morphed into a bloodthirsty smile. "You're going to make me kill you."
"Sakura...my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy!" Rin said. "I'm not going to let you make this all about you!"
"So you're not with me. You'd rather be my enemy." her smile widened. Her bloodlust intensified. At this point, Tohsaka knew that Sakura was beyond saving. She'd fallen too far, deluded herself too deeply.
"Only a fool deals in absolutes." Rin took a fighting stance. "I will do what I must."
"In that case..." Sakura said, "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!"
Shadows crept up from the ground and rushed at Rin, but she swiftly deflected them with her lightsaber. She then went on the offensive, rushing for Sakura's body. Sakura was forced to unsheathe her own lightsaber to defend herself.
"You know why you're going to lose, Nee-san?!" Sakura said, her tone dripping with contempt for the sister she so resented. "I do not fear the Dark Side like you do. I've embraced a larger view of the Force!"
"Corrupt powers are forbidden for a reason, Sakura. I'll teach you that lesson soon enough." Rin replied, forcing her sister back, inch by inch.
"You're going to die here, Nee-san!" Sakura yelled, "And you're going to suffer and scream, just like I did when I was a child!"
Sakura slowly edged over to a control panel while thwarting Rin's assaults. Maybe she could've used her shadows to incapacitate Tohsaka on this even ground, but Sakura knew that once they were near the lava surfaces of the planet, her victory was assured!
Tohsaka caught on to Sakura's plan, however, and began upping the speed of her attacks in order to keep Sakura distracted until she could disable the control panel.
"Hehehe, so you figured me out huh, Nee-san?!" Sakura laughed as massive shadows crept up from the floor and entangled Rin. "But I'm stronger than you!"
Sakura activated the control panel, causing the platform covering the lava to move away.
"And now you're going to BURN!" The shadows threw Rin over to the lava. Sakura rushed over to watch as her hateful sister got charred to nothingness. But that didn't happen.
Rin focused on the Force to attract disparate pebbles and rocks floating on the lava to create another platform in the nick of time. She landed without injury, and the platform floated away from Sakura's reach.
"NO!" Sakura yelled, using the Force to assemble her own platform and chase after Rin. Dammit, this was not what she was expecting. Conjuring the shadows was easy enough when she could focus, but her plans hadn't worked out, and she could FOCUS anymore!
"Sakura," Rin said, as the two platforms approached each other. "I'm far more experienced in the Force than you are. When your plans go even a little awry, you can't make full use of your powers. You may have more raw energy within you, but I know better how to use it!"
"Just die already!" Sakura yelled and swung her lightsaber. Rin blocked all her attacks with seeming ease, all the while as the platforms continued to glide over the lava.
"And because I am more experienced, I can tell you this with certainty. Committing to the Dark Side is evil! Your grandfather is evil!" Tohsaka said.
"From my point of view, so are the Jedi! So are you!" Sakura replied.
"Then you are lost!" Rin yelled, her composed demeanor cracking for just a moment before she abandoned her platform and jumped onto Sakura's. Taken aback once more, Sakura desperately tried to keep herself from being pushed off the edge or getting hit by one of Tohsaka's blows.
The shadow, she needed to summon the shadow, and fast! With the shadow, she could capture Rin for good, and throw her into the burning pits where she belonged!
But just as she summoned her shadow, Rin leaped away from her again. The platform had neared a larger, stable surface. A surface Tohsaka had taken notice of while Sakura had been busy focusing on summoning her shadow.
"It's over Sakura," Rin said, her expression pleading. She could no longer stay stoic. She could no longer push away her feelings for her sister. "I have the high ground!"
But her sister wasn't moved. "Hehehe! Are you really underestimating me that much, Nee-san?!"
"Don't try it. Please, don't try it!" Rin begged of her sister.
But Sakura leaped at her. She leaped, with her shadows ready to envelop the enemy. It didn't matter if her own body wouldn't reach Rin, her shadows would and then-
Wait, why were the shadows dissipating?
Why weren't they reaching her?
Why wasn't it working? She was stronger, the Dark Side was stronger, so why-
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sakura felt a searing pain and lost all awareness of her surroundings. She was tumbling. She was tumbling away, into the very lava she'd wanted to burn her sister in!
"AAAARGH! NOOOOO!" Sakura yelled as scorching pain overrode all her senses. Her screams continued, but there were more subdued sounds a discerning ear could've heard too. Sounds of forlorn weeping.
Rin sheathed the lightsaber she'd struck Sakura with, but her tears wouldn't stop. "How...how could I have failed you like this, Sakura?!" she said, between her sobs.
Sakura must have heard that because her gaze was fully focused on Rin now. A gaze still full of hatred and rage.
"Y...you were supposed to defeat the Sith, not join them!" Rin said. "I thought we were going to bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"
She continued gazing at Sakura, hoping against hope that her sister would finally realize her folly.
But it was not to be.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Sakura yelled. "I'LL KILL YOU, I'LL KILL YOU, I'LL KILL YOU!"
Even as she stumbled, even as she continued to cry, Rin Tohsaka took her sister's fallen lightsaber away from her.
"DIE, YOU BITCH! YOU DID THIS TO ME!" Sakura yelled, even as her body continued to be wracked with flames and her powers were nowhere to be found.
"You were my sister, Sakura. I loved you." Rin said, still struggling to stay upright. "Goodbye!"
Rin ran away from her burning sister, as fast as she could. She had to because staying any longer would have destroyed her. She had to take Shirou and leave. To dwell any further on what had just happened would be to admit to herself that she had, now and forever, completely failed everyone she'd loved. And she couldn't do that, not yet.
As she watched her sister go, all Sakura could feel was the burning pain as her body slowly disintegrated. And hate. Hate for her sister, hate for her own weakness, hate that just made the pain so much worse...
By the time Zouken Matou and Kotomine Kirei had found her, she was completely naked, her clothes having been reduced to ash. And yet, they could still sense a certain blackness swirling about her.
"It looks like she survived," Zouken said, facing Kirei. "Can you save her?"
"Yes. Her control over the Force may have gone haywire at the moment, but I'm sure I can stabilize her sufficiently with a proper medical team." Kotomine replied.
"Very well," Zouken replied and said to one of the Clone Troopers. "Prepare a medical vessel at once."
As Sakura was taken aboard the vessel, Zouken turned to Kirei and said, "And what of her mind? Do you think she'll be able to maintain her sanity, after what she's been through?"
"Yes, with appropriate treatment and care, she should recover to an adequate degree." Kirei replied with a smile, "She will probably be considerably weakened, but rest assured Zouken. Your granddaughter will return."
"I see," Zouken replied with a barely concealed disappointment. "Well, at least we did not lose our most prized asset so prematurely."
"Indeed, we did not." Kotomine replied.
Sakura felt a hand go inside her. Multiple times. Not just that, but there were droids treating her wounds, suturing her cuts. All the while she was barely conscious, but hurting from the pain of the operations. She felt worms wriggle inside her body, worms that had been implanted when she was a child slave, and these worms too were taken out of her.
She was not just being healed, she was being transformed. Into what, she did not know, and she did not care. All she had on her mind was one question. One question she wanted an answer to at all costs. Only then would she be able to decide what to do next.
Her opportunity came soon enough. Clad in black robes that pulsed with red veins, robes made out of the shadow itself, and her hair now a bleached pale purple, she approached her saviors as they called to her.
"Lady Sakura." Kotomine smiled as he ushered her out of the hospital room. She could also see her grandfather and new Galactic Emperor, Zouken Matou.
"Where is Senpai?" Sakura said, her voice bearing the slightest tinge of concern. Of longing. "Is he safe? Is he alright?"
"It seems in your anger, you killed him." Zouken spoke up. Kotomine raised an eyebrow. This was not part of their plan. He wondered if Zouken was even telling the truth. Regardless, his intention was clear. He wanted to break his granddaughter's mind for good and take over.
Kotomine silently chuckled and said nothing.
"No!" Sakura said, panic promptly transforming her demeanor "That's not possible! He was alive, I felt it! He was alive!"
The entire room shook. Equipment was being crushed. Droids were being destroyed. Even Zouken had collapsed, a look of terror on his face as he suffered the brunt of Sakura's anguish. Only Kotomine remained standing, unfazed.
"No, no no no no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sakura screamed and screamed and screamed. Her voice was like a banshee's, filling the halls of the base with a horrid noise that it would never be purged of. Her despair was flooding every nook and cranny, her pain was shaking the very foundations of the base. And while everything and everyone else shook in terror at the sight, Kotomine Kirei marveled at it. It was one of the most beautiful moments he'd ever witnessed.
Yes, Sakura Matou was becoming exactly the kind of woman he'd hoped her to be. She would be the biggest terror the Empire had ever wrought upon the galaxy. A Sith truly worthy of bearing the weight of all the evils of the world.
Kotomine smiled as he left everyone else at the mercy of Sakura's despair.