A/N: And now, the moment ya'll have been waiting for. A battle between a descendant of Revan against a descendant of the Hero of Tython. The action scene is finally here. Two former friends forced to fight each other in a dangerous duel to the death. With that said, let the battle begin.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Rebirth of the Revanchist

Chapter 3: Battle of the Heroes

3612 BBY

On Dantooine, it is one hour to until sunlight at in a hidden fortress about two-thousand kilometers outside Khoonda,smoke arises from a destroyed pair of fighter escorts close to a Republic shuttle. There sat nine individuals each with binders on their hands and guards watching over them. The Supreme Commander Jace Malcom, Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan, Jedi Masters Terrik Elan and Kira Carsen-Elan, and Theron Shan, Archiban Frodrick Kimble (AKA Doc), Colonel Jarrod Elan (Republic Trooper and Terrik's brother), Lieutenant Elara Dorne-Elan and Sith Lord Lana Beniko. In front of them, a young twenty-one year old Jedi Knight with chocolate brown hair in a low hanging ponytail hair with four braids heading towards the tail. She also had caramel brown eyes similar to her father's with her mother's eyebrows but with the same color as her hair. She was dressed in the medium brown version of the Jedi Consular robes. Talia Sophia Shan stood in front the tied-up individuals with her eyes squarely at what was once Arik Orgus Carsen-Elan, Darth Deimos.

Darth Deimos was in front of his Master, former Sith Emperor Vitiate. Men and women stood by his side, many formerly affiliated with the Eternal Empire, guarding their leaders with their life and making sure the prisoners did not escape. The former protégé of Satele's, stood there in a black robe with black cortosis-weave shoulder and knee-pads. He was sporting a light to medium brown crew-cut with a square goatee. His eyes were no longer green from his father's side of the family, but carried the look of a Sith Lord, yellow eyes ringed with blood red. In addition, he had two shiim marks on the left side of His face. More precisely, across the left eye starting from above the eye brow and ending where the cheek began. As he was scarred, so was Talia for she had a scar on the right side of her upper lip. This was given when she gave the Dark Lord his first shiim across his eye hoping it would make him come to his senses, instead this enraged Deimos who unleashed a near-lethal combination of Makashi, Ataru, and Juyo. In response, she put up a fast defense in the form of Djem So and Soresu. However, it was not enough as Deimos was able to put the tip of one of his red blades close to her lips, leaving a shiim for her to have.

Vitiate, no longer known as Valkorian to the people of Zakhuul, spoke in his demonic voice, "All of you have to come challenge me?"

"No, we have not come to challenge you, Vitiate." Talia answered in a calm voice. (A/N: Imagine Eden Riegel, Sherry Birkin from Resident Evil 6, in an English accent)

"Then why did you all come here?" Deimos asked.

"To bring you back to the light, my friend." Talia said in a pleading manner.

Softly chuckling, Deimos responded, "You're wasting your time and breath, descendant of Revan. I have seen how weak the Jedi are. When Satele faced me, I nearly had her when she decided to disfigure my face. I let her live with the fact that she is one of the few to face me and live to tell the tale."

"Master Satele was trying to help and you attacked her! Even now, she wishes that Arik would return to the fold-" Talia said.

"ARIK IS DEAD!" Deimos responded in a Force bellow. "When he refused to embrace the dark side, my Master struck his commandos down one by one, until grief and anger took his life. Through his death, my Master took his body and reshaped him into a powerful Sith apprentice and eventual Sith Lord. And in Arik's place, I, Darth Deimos was born." (Trivia: "Deimos" in Greek literally means "dread" or "terror")

Upon hearing this, Satele and Talia quickly surmised what had happened four and half years ago, his comrades' death made him sad and angry. Unable to cope with the loss in a short amount of time, Arik gave in to his rage and tried to attack the ancient Sith entity. However, Vitiate was wise enough to counter the young Jedi's attack. Quickly as Arik attacked the Dark Lord, Vitiate quickly took control of Arik like a puppet. Realizing this situation, Satele began to mourn for Arik's demise.

Noticing this, Deimos looked at Satele approached the grieving Jedi and taunted her saying, "Missing your student already? Do not worry, you will be joining him soon." He then turned back to the young Jedi girl. "You can avoid your friend's fate, if you will embrace the dark side. And maybe you can rule the galaxy, like your ancestor, Revan, once tried to do." Deimos darkly implored Talia.

"I will not join you, Arik. You are on a path that I cannot follow. And Revan was trying to stop Vitiate with what he attempted to do three hundred years ago." Talia said in response.

"So, you condone his foolish methods?" Deimos asked.

"I do not condone his actions, but I understand. Revan was not a fool. He paid the price for three hundred years so that I and my ancestors could live to help stop, not destroy Vitiate." Talia explained.

"Do you have the strength to stop my Master? Because I assure you no one not even Arik could kill him. He is very experienced in killing and dominating Jedi and Sith alike." Deimos warned.

"That is enough, Deimos. Little one, come to me, I command it." Vitiate said attempting to twist Talia.

"I am afraid that will not work on me. Master Jon Osten the Barsen'thor and Kira Carsen-Elan taught me how to resist your power without overly exhausting myself." Talia said.

"Child, give yourself over to me. It is in your blood. Your mother Lana is a Sith. Your father is a descendant of Revan's, as is his mother." Vitiate reminded Talia.

With determination to stand her ground, Talia responded, "That may be the case, but that would dishonor Revan and Bastila Shan, they became one with the Force, free from the dark side."

"So be it. Deimos, give her the lightsaber she came with and break her. Show her no mercy." Vitate commanded Deimos.

"Yes, Master." Deimos responded with a dark grin.

Walking up to her, Deimos handed her lightsaber. She took it without hesitation and meditated when preparing to fight. Deimos commanded his men to move the restrained to prepare them for a spectacular battle. He also told them to let them speak but not to let them escape. (A/N: If you have Battle of the Heroes or Duel of the Fates, now is the time to play it.)

"This should be interesting." Diemos said as he activated his twin lightsabers when he took them from his back using customized sheaths, giving the distinctive hiss of a Sith lightsaber. Both blades had a black core to signify the terror he unleashed upon both the Jedi and the Sith.

Talia activated her saberstaff giving off a white light with a blue core. She had spun it with her hands before taking the stance of the Jedi Consular. She looked at Deimos with sadness as she did not want to fight him. "Arik, this does not have to end in bloodshed. There is another way to defeat Vitiate."

Ignoring her, he attacked by attempting to slash at her with left hand. Talia anticipated and reacted by blocking. Deimos looking at her square in her eyes responded, "This is the way of the Sith, Talia. If you wil not fight, you will die. This duel will decide who is the strongest. Give in to your anger. I was who killed all those who were under your command by stealthily killing them one by one. If it wasn't for your Master, I would have succeeded in turning you to the dark side. Now I will break you or kill you to eliminate a threat to my plans in ruling the galaxy."

Gritting her teeth against his strength, Talia pushed her blade against his by trying to use Makashi and Ataru to overwhelm him into exhaustion. But the Sith Lord's two blades blocking each strike made him more determined to stop her. When she attempted to jump on him to use a downward slash on him, he retaliated using Force Lightning on her making her fall back.

While attempting to get up, one Vitiate's men tried to attack Talia. Deimos saw this and choked him with the Force. He also warned the man, before letting him go, in Huttese, "She's mine!" Noting this, Talia sensed that Arik was still in there somewhere within Deimos' mind. She did a kickstand and met Deimos head-on. However, he destroyed one half of her saberstaff, but the other half still kept glowing. When he tried to lunge, she did a backflip to avoid the attack.

A dark smile formed on Deimos' lips. "Impressive, you have come prepared by making a saberstaff from not one lightsaber but two to avoid being a without a weapon. But not good enough to my my terrifying ferocity of style of combat." Deimos said upon seeing her calm determination. The Dark Lord unleashed the full ferocity of Juyo trying to break her defense. On the last flurry, he attempted a lunge and ended up getting him a shiim across his back horizontally.

Feeling the power of the Force Rage building, he turned to towards with the glow of red in his eyes and said, "You really shouldn't have done that. Now you will pay in full for cutting me the second time around." With a Force Bellow, he attacked with all his controlled anger. However, even with his strength in the Force, he tired himself out too quickly and got cut lightly across the arm. Suddenly, he had a brief vision from Bastila Shan. The ancestress of Satele told him, "Arik, you can break free as my husband did." Shaking his head, "Damn Jedi mind trickery," Deimos muttered under his breath.

Coming back to his senses, he kept pressing the attack in an attempt to break her. When tried to scissor slice her, she reacted by destroying one of his blades when he missed. Now the battle became even both of them. Both could wield one lightsaber with deadly efficiency. Neither could get an edge over one another.

Then all of a sudden, Deimos knock Talia's lightsaber out of her hand and head butted her to the ground. Turning the blade downward, Deimos prepared to kill Talia by driving the blade on her heart. When thrust down, his blade was stopped by Talia using tutaminis with her hand, the same trick that Satele preformed at the Battle of Alderaan against the late Darth Malgus. Talia then turned to where her lightsaber was dropped and used the Force to call the hilt to her. Using a powerful Force Push, she threw him about 9 meters in the air and knocking his lightsaber out of his hand. When he landed, he landed on his back hard. By the time, he attempted to call his lightsaber, Talia had already caught it and held it along with hers in a X-Shape close to his neck. He knew he had lost the fight. Deimos bowed his in anticipation of being beheaded.

"Good, little one, that was impressive. Very good! Now, kill him." Vitiate told her.

Looking at Deimos, she felt very sorry for him. The temptation to kill the one who had caused so much trouble was strong, but so was her unconditional love for the man she once called her closest friend. Suddenly, she had two visions. One showed her striking down Deimos and becoming the next Dark Lord of the Sith. In the other, it showed her happy with Arik, he was full of pain, misery and regret, yet helped him recover, hugging her friend once again. She made the decision to spare his life and tried to reach out to him one last time. She had an idea. She turned off both lightsabers and secured them to her belt. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled a necklace with circular pendant. The inscription on the pendant in Huttese translated as, "To the warrior who feels pain, yet helps others." She knelt over and recited some words she was once told as a child by Arik, "If you do not show mercy where it counts…"

"… how then can you be a Jedi?" Arik said. Suddenly, the Force glowed within him and broke his connection with Vitiate. He was at last free from the Dark Lord's control. (A/N: For those who don't know of what theme to think for this part of the story, watch Kira break free of the Sith Emperor's touch in her fight against Darth Angral from xletalis. Or listen to the Sail Barge Assault, last minute of it, think of that theme while you are reading Arik retaking control.)

"Princess? Is that you?" Arik spoke softly looking at her.

"Breathe the free air again, big guy." Talia said feeling tears welling up in her eyes.

Vitiate looking at the scene before him. "Showing mercy to your enemy. The loyal Republic Jedi. So noble. So pathetic. I gave the chance to serve at my side and you threw it away to save this boy. Deimos, kill her. Men, get ready to kill the prisoners. The former Zakhuul Knights raised their lightsaber pikes to kill everyone.

Faking obedience, Arik stood up, pushed Talia gently to her knees, and said mockingly, "Yes, Master." He retrieved his blade from Talia and took hers putting it under his foot. Raising the blade, he winked at Talia. Nodding, she waited for him to make his move. He reached out in the Force and broke the restraints quietly without drawing attention. Arik then yelled," Now!" The restored Jedi Knight kicked Talia's blade in the air to catch with the Force. All of the prisoners broke out of their restraints and Arik threw each of the weapons to their respective owners as he blocked a strike from a former minion of his.

Vitiate yelled, "SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!" After noticing Arik's treachery, he Force sprinted towards Arik. However, Arik spotted him in the nick of time and Force pushed him to the ground. Jace called the calvary that were watching from afar and shot most of the minions. Noticing that they were losing ground, Vitiate decided to order a retreat. The men fled from the fortress in a Zakhuul shuttle painted in black and red. Vitiate tried to run, but was caught by Arik using Force Restrain in an attempt to stop him.

"Moral Dilemma: do you stop a major threat from escaping or do help those who need your help?" Vitiate said by throwing a brick at Talia with the Force that knocked her out. He then used the Force to grab a frag grenade from Jace Malcom's belt, activated it, and threw it near Talia. Arik reacted quickly by running with the Force, grabbed it with his left hand, moved it away from her, and shielded most of his body with the Force before it exploded. The resulting blast destroyed three-quarters of his left arm and left him with bloody stump. It also threw him on Talia with his head hitting her abdomen hard stirring her awake. Talia noticed his face was in shock, but surprisingly calm. While Vitiate was escaping, Arik tried to use to Force Lightning to bring the Dark Lord. Seeing Talia pleading with him to stop and was not touched by the grenade, he asked her, "All you alright, my friend?"

"Yes, I am alright, big guy." Seeing his mangled arm, she asked him in a shocked face, "What happened to your left? Most of it looks like it was ripped off by nexu!"

Wondering what she was talking about, he looked at his now missing left arm. "Whoa, that is not good." Arik said. "Looks like Vitiate got the last laugh. He wounded me badly."

With the rest of the Dark Knights (Dark sided version of the Zakhuul Knights) retreating, Terrik and Kira looked for Arik and Talia. What they found scared the Jedi Masters to their core: their only beloved son pale, not from the dark side, but from the left arm that was no more. "Satele! Come quick, Arik is bleeding out badly!" Both parents yelled. Seeing the scene before them, Satele saw Arik lying on his back with his head on Talia's lap cradling him. She ran to see how he was faring.

Grabbing his remaining hand, Satele jolted Arik into looking in her eyes. "Arik, what happened to you? Why did you fall?"

"Angelique…" Arik responded.

"What?" Satele asked curiously.

"Angelique, my fellow Knight, the one from Zakhuul, she died in front of me. She admitted that she loved me and would have been glad to spend the rest of her days as my wife. Vitiate killed her…with my own blade. My own emerald lightsaber. Seeing her death made me unleash my rage and grief as a weapon. I tried to kill him. When I struck him, he threw against a tree on Yavin 4, he then proceeded to take control, but I sealed a part of my mind from his, so that when Talia did the right thing in showing mercy and returning my necklace, I could regain control." Arik said with a weak smile. "Alas, all of the people killed by Deimos or terrorized by him are because of me. I'm a monster despite saving Talia."

"That's not true. You were just a puppet of his. The lives that were affected were not by your hands." Theron said as he approached with Elara and Doc rushing to save the young Jedi from bleeding to death. Elara applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding from his arm. Doc used kolto to heal the damage to his arm. It was also making Arik feel loopy, but still able to feel guilt for all the people affected by Deimos.

Despite their treatment of Arik, he still lost a considerable amount of blood. Before he passed out, Arik tearfully apologized, "I'm so sorry for everything that I have done to hurt and terrorize everybody. Master Satele, I have failed you and your teachings. Father, mother, I have failed to live up to who you want me to be." Looking to Talia, he told her, "I am so sorry, that I hurt you and scarred you for life." Succumbing to the blood loss, he closed his eyes for a deep rest.

Talia, seeing him closing his eyes, panicked and started to cry for her friend and placed her head on top of his. "Please do not die on me, you are my greatest friend! You always will be! Revan, if you can hear, as you rescued Bastila from the dark side, rescue him, please. He put himself in harm's way to save me. Save him. I didn't risk my life to watch him die." Talia said as she succumbed to sorrow.

"Relax; he is alright, my descendant." A familiar voice spoke. Suddenly, two Force ghosts appeared both holding hands. It was Revan and Bastila Shan. Bastila spoke, "You fought bravely to save him, child. He will never forget your act of mercy. I never thought that showing Revan mercy would change my life and his. It is easy for Jedi to forget that without unconditional love, you cannot show mercy to those do not deserve it. And without it, life cannot continue."

"What about Senya? The woman he married as Valkorian?" Talia wondered.

"Loved her? Maybe… But it doesn't justify ignoring the children until one of them became consumed with rage. Despite that, he did help Terrik during the war. Still, one of the Scions of the Eternal Empire, about a year before the conquest, warned that if Valkorian continued on his current path, he would be defeated by a warrior of light and darkness." Revan responded.

"You?" Talia asked.

"No, you'll know when you see him in Revan's robes and carrying his lightsaber." Bastila answered. "Come, my love. We must help Arik while he rests."

"Indeed. He is not dead, but he will want to be reminded that he is not beyond redemption." Revan replied.

In a flash of light, they disappeared from everyone's sight. "Alright people, we need get Arik medical treatment." Doc said as he and Elara brought a stretcher to help Arik.

"Alright, get him on the stretcher, everybody. One… Two… Three… There we go. Talia let him go. He is in good hands." Elara asked.

Before they sent him off, Talia planted a kiss on his forehead and leaned her forehead. "You be careful, alright? Don't give up, my friend." Giving off tears of joy, she gave an honest smile as they led him to be treated. Satele went with them to watch over her former student.

"You are one in a trillion, Talia. You have done me proud, my former Padawan." Kira told her student. She then gave a hug to her and Talia felt tears falling on her. Kira was crying for joy over redemption's victory. "You saved my son from dying in the dark. Thank you."

"Not a problem. I just glad I could help my friend out." Talia replied.

"Why the kiss, hmm?" Kira asked inquisitively with an arched ginger eyebrows and her hands on her hips.

"Just as a way of saying thank you." Talia said smiling.

"Uh-huh. We shall see, come on, we have to escort the shuttle with fighters that are coming in a couple of hours." Kira said as she returned to the business at hand.

Before departing, Lana was approached by Talia who told her, "Thank you for help, Mother."

"Not a problem. I am just glad Vitiate failed to kill Arik. Who knows what would have happened if he killed the boy." Lana answered.

Mother and child hugged each other. They departed and wondered about the next time they would meet. Just then, her father Theron approached her and asked her, "How are you holding up, little one?"

"Fine, alright I guess. But I hope the same goes for Arik. I hate for him to die and not being able to fix his mistakes." Talia answered.

"My reading of body language tells me that you want to be more than just friends with him." Theron replied.

"No sense trying to deny it, huh? I gave him a good luck kiss on his forehead and leaned on his forehead. He has helped me out more than most Jedi should. And with Angelique confirmed dead, he will need someone to get him through his days of pain and regret." Talia answered calmly.

Theron and Talia talked for hours until they got the confirmation that Arik is stabilizing but is in a coma. Satele gave Talia permission to see him as soon as she could.

Several days later...

Talia didn't hesitate to go to the hospital on Coruscant. There laid Arik in a hospital bed with tubes and IV wires to stabilize him until the battle of the mind was finished. She got a chair, put it next to him, and held his hand letting him, in his sleep, know that she was there. She began to meditate with the Force hoping to help him in his mind.

A/N: Well the battle for Arik is over. The battle of the mind is about to begin. Again, I do not own Star Wars or its respective properties. Reviews are welcome. Please be respectful and criticize constructively. As promised, Revan has made an appearance along with his wife, Bastila Shan. A shout-out to Star Tours Traveler. I know that I edited this chapter many times now, I just wanted to correct any errors I made. Thank you for reading and May the Lord bless you! All praises go to Him.