Chapter Seven
Maka has an intimate understanding of what happens to those imprisoned by the Empire, and the last thing she expects is for their group to be escorted not onto the shuttle, but deeper into the valley. She tries to stick close to Soul, but the stormtroopers are practically glued to their prisoners and are intent on making sure that contact between them is minimal. It's potentially the most competent she's ever seen them, and it just fucking figures.
Fortunately, they don't have to go far for Medusa's "field trip." On the plus side, if they can somehow manage to escape, there's the barest possibility that they might actually be able to make it back to the ship. There is, she's pretty sure, one remaining Thompson sister still in the Soular Menace , though, and that's a potential bright spot - if they work together to escape, they might have a faster getaway and some cover. On the other hand, she's pretty sure they only have Soul's lightsaber, unless the Demon Clan managed by some miracle to secrete away some weapons. Maka isn't going to hold her breath.
Soul catches her eye over the shoulder of one of the troopers and gives her a small smile that's supposed to be reassuring. Mostly, he just looks constipated. She keeps an eye on their surroundings and tries to come up with some kind of plan.
Medusa leads them straight to the base of the temple. The closer they get, the more her skin crawls. It's a visceral, oily sensation and all she wants to do is scrub it off, futile though she knows the gesture would be.
"KM-06541, the door." Medusa gestures and one of the stormtroopers detaches from the rest of the contingent and marches up to a set of stone doors, several stories high. Maka can't see what the trooper does to try and get them open, but she hears the scream clearly enough. "Well, that was unfortunate. KM-01988, let's see if you can do better," Medusa says, sounding bored.
The Admiral makes her way through three more of her stormtrooper squad before she finally stops. Soul had kind of hoped that Medusa might just go ahead and exhaust her supply of troops; instead the air smells strongly of burnt plasticine and flesh.
"Well, that is a shame," Medusa says, looking thoughtfully at the door, then up at the towering stone walls of the temple. She smiles slowly. "Let's try something a little different. Bring me the Jedi."
He doesn't think he's imagining the sharp noise Maka makes, but he doesn't have time to worry about it because his stormtrooper handlers are dragging him forward, and if he resists too much, he risks dislodging his lightsaber. The door doesn't look like anything special when he finally gets eyes on it; the small pile of dead stormtroopers tells a different story.
"I don't know what you think I can do about this that they couldn't," he says, nodding at the corpses.
"Do you know where you are, little Jedi?" Her tone is calm, conversational even, but everything about Admiral Medusa Gorgon puts him on edge.
"Korriban," he says.
Medusa rolls her eyes. "You Jedi all think that you're so clever when you're really just narrow-minded children. You don't even learn your own history any longer."
"When are we supposed to learn it? From who ?" He snaps before he can control himself. "All of our teachers are dead, our schools destroyed; there's barely anyone left to learn from thanks to the Empire and scum like you."
"I'll be fixing that soon enough. Korriban," she says, raising her voice enough to carry across their company, "was once the bastion of the Sith Empire, and we're in the Valley of the Dark Lords. This is their Great Temple - they ruled the galaxy from Korriban before, and with my help, they'll rule again." It's so - Soul's so flabbergasted he can't even respond before she's gesturing imperiously. "Now, open that door, Jedi."
"Are you insane ?"
She cocks her head and looks him over. "Of course not. I'm dedicated. Now open the door."
"What makes you think I can?" he hedges again.
"We're trying to enter a temple full of the bodies of deceased Sith Lords, and you're a Force-user. Consider it a well-educated hunch. I'd suggest you try; after all, I don't need all of you around." She pauses and pretends to think. "Let's start with...you." Soul supposes that he shouldn't be surprised when the stormtroopers drag Maka forward. She does struggle and fight as they escort her. "Yes, I think that's an excellent idea. Open the door and I'll spare our little traitorous TIE pilot."
"And if I can't?" he asks, even knowing her answer. He's already examining the door with his Force senses, looking for some kind of indication of how it's supposed to open.
"I don't like the word 'can't,' Jedi. I suggest that you find a way."
"Soul, don't." Maka isn't struggling now; her back is straight and her eyes are focused on him. "If anything you told me on the ship was true, you can't do this."
"Aw, have you been telling our pilot stories , Jedi?" Medusa smiles, and Maka gets that oily feeling again. "That's adorable."
She sees Medusa pull her sidearm and fire, but she has nowhere to go. She manages to shift enough so that it catches her on the side of her thigh, instead of through her muscle. That doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt like a son of a bitch, though.
"How many lies did you tell her to get her to go with you? Something about the end of the universe, I'm sure." Medusa laughs, the sound like shattering glass against Maka's ears. It's nothing that she hadn't thought to herself as she joined Soul on his quest. He meets her eyes, and decides that it doesn't matter if he exaggerated anything he'd told her. She can see well enough for herself what kind of monster Medusa is. "So dramatic, you Jedi. We're not going to destroy the galaxy - what would be left to rule, if we did?"
"Don't," Maka says through gritted teeth. She can read the apology in his eyes though, and knows he's already figured out how to open the door. "Soul."
Medusa raises her blaster again, and Soul raises his hands to the door, surging forward before Maka can say anything else and pressing his palms into the hewn stone. There's another flash of light, and if she weren't in tune with the Force, she would have fully expected to see Soul burnt and broken at the foot of the doorway when the light cleared.
Instead, Maka can sense the doors, whatever is keeping them locked and guarded, reacting to his touch and the power he pushes into it. They swing open quietly, and Medusa makes a triumphant noise. "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
She ushers her squad forward, and Maka stumbles into her captors, playing up her injured leg; they nearly go down and she trips forward, bumping into Black*Star before her forward momentum is halted.
"We have to get out of this and stop her," she hisses at him before she's being pulled back to her feet by several stormtroopers. Black*Star doesn't respond, but he does shoot her a look. She can't completely decipher it, but she's going to hope that it meant they'd help, and maybe the Demon Clan has a little something up up their sleeves.
Hopefully spare blasters. Or knives. Really, she'd take any weapon at this point. She's always been an optimist.
The sensation of being watched only thickens once they're inside the temple, and as they're marched down a long, vaulted hall, Soul can sense physical presences as well. He suspects that they're only quiet because they want their group here, that they've been expected somehow. They pass several smaller chambers branching off the main area, but they keep moving until eventually the hall dead ends into a large, echoing chamber. The moment Maka limps into the space, her lungs feel smaller and she has to resist the urge to either breathe faster, or to scream. She's so focused on the sensation that she almost misses the sarcophagus centered in the chamber.
One by one they all filter in, and Soul looks up and extends his senses throughout the space. At one point, nearly too long ago for him to contemplate, someone had come along and transformed simple rock and stone into this enormous tomb - there's no denying the skill and craftsmanship that went into the space. Natural stone has been smoothed and carved deep into intricate designs that scroll outward from the sarcophagus, winding outward and arching up the walls. The lingering sense of evil and malcontent permeates the whole space and weighs him down. They're keeping him separate from Maka, but from what he can tell, she's feeling the same tug as he is. The sound of Medusa stepping towards the sarcophagus interrupts his thoughts.
In addition to her contingent of stormtroopers, Medusa also brought a small entourage with her, and they step forward solemnly. "Crona," she snaps, and the thinnest of the entourage steps forward, cradling a pyramid shaped holocron.
They place it gingerly on the lid of the sarcophagus; it's not hard from his vantage point for Soul to see that the detailing on the pyramid completes a pattern on the tomb. A moment later, the holocron begins to glow, and a lanky, hooded figure appears floating above the sarcophagus.
He surveys the chamber, then focuses back on Medusa. "Well, it seems you have finally found my tomb."
"Lord Asura," Medusa inclines her head. "I have done everything that you required." Her voice is barely concealed greed as the holo of the great Sith Lord Asura looks at them. The weight of his gaze is almost tangible, and if Maka didn't know that this was ultimately just a way to access the Sith's thoughts and memories, she would have believed that Asura were still alive and walking among them.
"Excellent. And you are sure that you're ready to complete your education in the ways of the Sith? Once you begin the alchemical process, there will be no turning back."
Soul doesn't think he's imagining the faint hint of challenge in the holocron's voice, as if daring Medusa to continue. Not that it would matter - she doesn't hesitate in the least.
Medusa smiles, holding out both of her hands and her other two officers each place an artefact in her hands. The woman almost drops the cylinder, and Medusa snaps, " Eruka ." She flinches, but recovers, and for the first time Medusa holds both artefacts in her hands. "I'm ready to become a Sith," she says.
"Medusa Gorgon, are you fit to claim my power - the power to destroy worlds? A power so immense that even the Great Jedi Council could not begin to fathom it?"
The greed and desire on her face is blatant as she says, "I am."
Asura smiles, and it's like watching a trap close on an unsuspecting animal. "Then begin. Unlock my tomb and begin your transformation."
"Medusa, you can't - it can't be done!" Soul shouts. "You don't understand what you're doing - you can't just absorb the ability to use the Force!" She ignores him completely. It's like watching two ships collide; all eyes in the chamber are fixed on Medusa as she brings the two artefacts together. The fusion completes and Medusa holds up her prize. It's - it looks like the hilt of a lightsaber and Medusa swings it around with a little laugh. The air feels almost thick enough to see and actively malignant.
"What do you think this is going to accomplish?" Maka searches for something, anything to distract Medusa. She doesn't know what's going to happen next, but she doesn't need the Force to understand that it's going to be bad.
Asura's hologram turns to look at her, and Maka has to stop herself from flinching back: it's just a hologram, she reminds herself.
"Stupid child," Medusa sneers. "You think you're going to change the outcome by distracting me? With this," she caresses the melded artefact, "I will imbue myself with the power of the greatest Sith Lord to ever roam this galaxy. I will finally have the power Ideserve : power enough to destroy planets." She looks between the artefact and Maka. "And to think, if you'd only known what you had in your hands - but no matter. It is my turn for greatness."
Maka remembers the feeling of the medallion in her hand, the sweet, seductive call of power. Is this what would have happened if she'd given in to that sensation? If she hadn't told Soul about the artefact, if she hadn't gained some kind of rudimentary Jedi training to resist the pull of that evil power on her mind and her heart? Would they have ended up here anyway?
Whatever Medusa is about to start, Maka knows with complete certainty that they can't let it happen. The stormtroopers have subtly shifted, inadvertently bringing the prisoners closer together, and Maka is able to catch the eyes of Black*Star and his second in command, Tsubaki. Pattie is still staring at Medusa, aghast. They're all offered a front row show as Medusa activates the cylinder, and Maka can practically hear every living being in the chamber stop breathing and then exhale as one when a blade of light appears. To her untrained eye, it's just a lightsaber, glowing a sickly green and almost mesmerizing, but ultimately just like Soul's.
"In order to begin the transfer process, you now must make the required sacrifices," Asura intones.
"Crona, step forward."
For the first time, Maka sees something like hesitance in one of Medusa's minions. Still, Crona steps forward, though their hands are trembling. "Yes, mo - Admiral?"
Medusa smiles tenderly, her free hand coming up to brush back the pale pink hair threatening to fall into Crona's eyes. "You know that you have always been my greatest accomplishment. I am so proud of you."
Maka feels like an intruder, caught watching a moment that no one else was supposed to see. Crona stutters a quiet, "Mother," and Maka thinks that if she weren't attuned to the Force, she might never have heard it. Next to her, Soul flinches.
"But now," Medusa continues, "I have to aim higher and fulfill my destiny."
She presses a small button, and a blade, glinting unnaturally in the light of the chamber, slides out of the bottom of the artefact's hilt. It's over in a moment - a graceful arc and a violent spray of blood. The prisoners watch in stunned horror as Crona falls to the chamber floor and their blood, heedless of gravity or physics, flows into the carved channels lining the floor and up the sides of the sarcophagus. For the first time since learning she could be a Jedi, Maka feels the life force of a living being snuffed out, and her chest aches with it. Medusa just keeps her eyes trained on the holocron. The tomb pulsates , and Soul and Maka watch as a tenuous connection is made between sarcophagus, artefact, and Medusa.
"The sacrifice of the blood of a loved one has been accepted." The hologram tilts its head slightly. "Proceed."
"Free," Medusa snaps. Her carefully crafted calm is beginning to wear away as power pulses through the chamber. The look on her lieutenant's face is barely short of terror, but Medusa just continues, "Bring me the Jedi."
" NO! " Maka doesn't realize she's yelled until everyone turns to look at her.
Medusa smiles, slick and mean. "So the traitor has feelings , does she? Eruka, bring her forward!" It takes three stormtroopers and Eruka to drag Maka closer to the sarcophagus, and when they stop, she's got a clear view of Crona's unseeing eyes. "I suggest that you cooperate if you would like your traitor friend to live, Jedi," Medusa says. Eruka raises her blaster and snugs it up under Maka's chin.
Soul bows his head and lets himself be lead forward by Free. They end up nearly opposite each other, and Soul flicks his gaze up to meet hers, then over towards where the others are being held. She sucks in a breath, not sure if she's understanding what he's getting at. He closes his eyes, grits his teeth, and suddenly she can hear him, clear as day in her mind.
My lightsaber; use the Force, Maka. They'll help.
It's all he has time for before Medusa's raising the knife again - only to find her arm stuck, mid-air. Maka gets that peculiar sensation of time slowing down again and she narrows her eyes in concentration.
Slowly but surely, enhanced by the power now steadily leaking from the tomb, Medusa's arm lowers, struggling against Soul's use of the Force. Eruka's caught staring at the scene; Maka can sense her distraction. She knows where Soul stashed his lightsaber, remembers the feel of it in her hands, and pulls .
The lightsaber flies free before anyone knows what's happening, and Maka uses their inattention to snatch it out of the air. The blade flickers into life as she slams her elbow into Eruka's chest and wrenches herself free. She gets the tip underneath the blade of the artefact, enough to knock it away from Soul, who falls to his knees and rolls out of the way
Which is approximately when all hell breaks loose. As if on cue, the Demon Clan members burst into action, surprising the stormtroopers. Tsubaki is the first to break free, limbs a blur of deadly motion, and she's knocked out both of her guards and grabbed one of their blaster rifles before Medusa realizes what's happening.
"Kill them all - leave the Jedi for me," Medusa shrieks. "I will have Asura's power!"
Maka swings again, forcing Medusa's attention back to her. "Not if I can help it," she snarls, Soul's lightsaber humming angrily against the artefact's blade. A few stray bolts whiz towards her, and Soul deflects them deftly as he struggles to his feet. Her focus narrows to only Medusa, trusting that the Demon Clan will triumph over the stormtroopers and not just fight their way out and leave, trusting that Soul will be able to deflect any more blaster bolts aimed at her. She's at a disadvantage, less experienced than either Medusa or Soul with swordplay; she retreats a little and Medusa presses forward.
Maka dodges back, just enough out of the way that she's got some space, and catches Soul's eye. With a strong Force push, she hurls the lightsaber up over Medusa's head. Soul catches it and brings it to his hand, whipping it forward towards Medusa's back. She whirls and dodges; Maka takes the moment to push aside blaster fire.
Somewhat fortunately, she's able to draw fire away from Soul just by existing, and she focuses, trying to purposefully redirect the bolts back towards their source. She manages one, but it takes all her concentration and she settles for sending them ricocheting into the walls instead.
Pattie snatches up an abandoned blaster dropped by one of the troopers Tsubaki incapacitated and begins firing into the squad with a hellish war cry; Maka's glad to see that the Demon Clan is living up to their name and, for all intents and purposes, seems to be triumphing over the stormtroopers. She tries to shield Tsubaki from a blast she doesn't see, fired by a trooper who had looked to be down and out. The dark-haired woman nods her thanks and returns fire.
Maka sees the knife before Soul does, no longer restricted to the hilt of the artefact. Medusa distracts Soul with a well-aimed strike of the artefact's blade. Maka watches the knife, suddenly held in Medusa's left hand, as it flashes up so fast she can barely see it.
"Watch out!" she screams, but it's too late and Soul stumbles backwards, looking shocked. His lightsaber clatters to the stone as he falls, a bright red line across his chest.
The sounds of the fight fade away as Soul's blood drips onto the stone floor, slowly but steadily draining into the carved channels. The sarcophagus pulses with another, stronger, shock of power as Soul's blood creeps up the side of the tomb, and the look on Medusa's face - part surprise that her ploy worked, part gruesome pleasure - is burned indelibly into Maka's brain.
Maka struggles to breathe, concentrates on the fact that she can still see Soul breathing, that she hasn't felt his life force being extinguished.
"The sacrifice of the blood of one who is hated has been...accepted." For a second, it sounds as if Asura's hologram is unsure, but it continues hastily, "It will be enough. You know now what you must do, Medusa. Proceed."
She strides forward - as if her stormtroopers weren't being attacked, like her lieutenants hadn't abandoned her - and stands directly next to the altar. Maka doesn't think she imagines the way the holocron leans forward , as if it is personally invested in what is about to happen next - which, whatever Maka was anticipating, was certainly not Medusa taking the knife and slicing open her right wrist.
Her blood flows freely onto the tomb, and with a triumphant smirk she plunges the artefact's glowing blade into the sarcophagus before slumping over on top of it. The final power surge as the circuit completes is enough to nearly knock everyone still standing in the chamber to their knees. It leaves Maka's throat dry and her ears ringing, and it takes her a moment before she realizes that the sound she's hearing is actually the soft sound of the hologram chuckling. It raises all of the hairs on her neck, even as she's struggling to call Soul's lightsaber to her hand.
"The sacrifice of the blood of the self has been accepted," Asura laughs, the sound beginning to carry through the chamber. "And now I can live once more!"
Maka can sense Medusa's life force slipping from her, but just as she's about to fade away, the tomb thrums with power and Medusa's body jerks. A laugh bubbles out of her lips, but it sounds unnatural. On the sarcophagus, the holocron goes dark. She finally stands, awkward and coltish in her movements, and prods at the wound on her wrist.
"I need more power," she hisses, voice gone crackling and hot. She sniffs the air, eyes eventually resting on Maka, and when she grins her mouth is full of far too many teeth. "Little padawan, barely more than a youngling's power. Give it to me. Come to me." Medusa - no, she recognizes dimly - Asura , beckons her. "You're not going to make it out of here," she croons. "Give me that power; it's wasted on you - sad little pilot from a sad little broken family." She tilts her head to the side and the gesture looks hideously unnatural, as though her head might completely separate from her neck. "Poor little Maka, whose mother chose to die rather than keep living with her family."
And that's true; what does Maka have to offer anyone, much less the galaxy? She couldn't even keep her mother interested in staying with her, had betrayed the Empire before she'd even graduated -
"Maka!"
She was wasting her life, wasting her connection with the Force.
"Maka, wake up. Fight her !"
She could give her life and her power for a greater cause, for something bigger than the Empire, even, if only she could get rid of that pesky voice. But sounds so familiar, so comforting in the face of her fears and she wants -
Soul watches Asura steal Medusa's body from his prone position on the floor; he knows he needs to get up, needs to do something, but he's so tired and his chest hurts. Helpless, he watches as Maka stills, her grip on his lightsaber going slack, just barely holding on. Asura extends a hand, fingers looking increasingly claw-like, and he's not sure if that's because of the blood loss or if it's actually happening. Maka takes one halting step forward, and Soul sucks in a pained breath.
"Maka!" he shouts. She stumbles a little, and he hopes it's enough to break her out of the trance Asura has her under, but he's not about to take that chance. " Asura! " Soul yells, trying to distract her, to get her attention - anything that will be enough to break her hold over Maka. She doesn't even glance at him, though, just crooks her fingers again and draws Maka a little closer, her steps a little more hesitant.
The circuit is complete, Asura is released, and they are all fucked.
Except - except he can sense the tenuous connection that still exists between Medusa's body, the artefact, and the tomb. He feels it tugging at his own life force, trying to completely drain him - if it succeeds, the circuit really will be complete. He bites back a cry as he struggles to get up, to get away from the floor carvings trying to drain his body of blood. It seems to be working, but it's not going to be enough.
"Maka, wake up. Fight her !"
Maka shudders and stops moving, but she still looks lost. Soul wants to go to her, but he has to trust that she's as strong as he thinks because now he has to deal with Asura's attention suddenly being on him.
Medusa's body moves, and the motion reminds him briefly of a puppet. "You're still alive," Asura says. "We can fix that."