Chapter 10

The one who Fell

Freya was on a knee, bowing lower than she ever had in her life, head down, eyes down, her bottom lip trembling before her masters darkening mood. His force signature was a silhouette of dark emotions. In all of her time serving under him she had never felt such anger.

Larsi was on a knee to her left, the entire left side of her face wrapped in bacta wrap, hiding the burn marks which covered most of her body, from the tip of her lekku to the toes of her leg. She felt the Twi'lek through the force. There was immense pain from her injuries, barely contained hatred for the Eldar witch who had maimed her. But beyond those emotions there was one other, slowly creeping through her being.

It was fear.

"You have failed" the words stung more than the silence, for both Dark Jedi winced at what they heard. Their master's voice was calm and precise, yet there was a darkness behind it which threatened to consume their sanity.

"My lord" Freya began, her mouth and throat feeling as dry as the deserts of Tatooine "We managed to capture four additional Jedi, plus an Inquisitor"

"Yet you managed to allow four of them to escape" her master replied. A pressure fell upon them, covering their bodies completely. Larsi hit the ground with a painful thud, emitting a slight cry. Freya managed to remain kneeling, yet she could not move. Her limbs ached from the pressure. She knew that he could crush them both without batting an eyelash.

"My lord" she half begged "Please"

"You both have failed me" he growled.

She did not even feel Jaser Lee's presence until he stood over them both, his pole unstrapped from his back and held in both hands, he flicked a switch and a curved black of crimson erupted from the top. Sith warrior looked down upon the Dark Jedi, eyes radiating a yellow glow which chilled them both. He was like an executioner.

She looked up to the throne in time to see her master rise and begin to walk down the steps towards them, his boots echoing with every pounding step he took. He reached into the folds and brought out a curved hilt of dull black metal, engraved in golden runes which seemed to emit an eerie ghostly glow on their own. He flicked the switch and a single blade of crimson light came to life with a snap-hiss.

"Master please" she managed, feeling an invisible hand roughly grab her throat and squeeze mercilessly.

He reached out with his free hand and flexed his two middle fingers upward. Both Freya and Larsi were lifted off the floor and hung in midair, their feet dangling a meter off the ground. Both squirming in a fruitless attempt to try and lessen the invisible hands which were strangling them.

Darkclaw felt her vision blur from lack of oxygen, she felt her legs and arms start to turn to lead weights. Yet still she kept her hands clasped around her throat, scraping at her neck even though it was impossible for her to pry herself free. She tried to speak, tried to plead, but she was being choked to the point where her words left her mouth as an incoherent gurgle.

She forced herself to look over to Larsi, only to see her partner in a worse situation. The Twi'lek's bacta wrap had fallen free, showing her burn marks, blotches of pinkish flesh along her lekku, face, arm and leg. Bloodshot red eyes bulging, her mouth open to try and scream but instead was emitting croaks and squeaks. A thin trickle of blood slid down the right corner of her mouth. Yet she continued to resist, her legs kicking out, her body squirming, her hands grasping her throat.

She turned back to look into the eyes of her master. Even when he was this close she could not see his face, just those eyes. Feral slits for irises, glowing a sickly yellow. He waved his hand and she flew several meters, landing on the floor with a painful thump and sliding across its rough surface. The hold was released, and she coughed and sputtered as air returned to her lungs, holding onto her neck and feeling bruises already begin to form.

She looked over to where her master and Jaser were standing, Larsi was still being held in the air, her struggles slowly getting weaker and weaker. From here shadows fell on them both, the only things making it through were those sick yellow eyes, glowing with mirth at the pain they were inflicting, and the fizzling blades of their lightsabres. From here they did not even look human. They were like monsters that would give even a Daemon pause.

"You are watching Archon"

The Dark Eldar lord stepped out of the shadows, dressed in his nightmarish armour of black carapace with purple engraving, his spiked helmet held under his arm, a black cape billowing behind him like a shroud. His armaments of a thin bladed power sword strapped to his hip and a splinter pistol holstered to his side. Without his helm Freya saw his face, a pale form with a defined nose and high cheek bones, his dark eyes glinting in the low light and his black hair tied up into a topknot. A mad Cheshire grin adorned his face, his enjoyment of the spectacle clear.

"This is how you punish your underlings for failure" as her master spoke, he swung his hand and the Twi'lek flew through the air, impacting hard against one of the stone statues and slumping to the floor with a bone cracking thud. He approached as she tried to rise to her hands and knees, his lightsabre deactivated and holstered. He raised his hands, which were sparking with blue energy. When she struggled to her knees he released a blast of force lightning.

The lightning struck and encompassed her, the force behind the charge throwing her on her back, she cried out in pain, curling up into a ball in a feeble attempt to protect herself. He did not weaken his strike. He kept the lightning firmly in place, stopping for but a second before releasing it again.

Her partner's screams awoke Freya from her daze. In a quick motion she psychically pulled on her lightsabre from its place on the holster strapped across her forearm, let the hilt drop into her waiting hand. She heard the clink of the attached chains as she activated the blade, felt its searing heat and heard its constant hiss.

She was on her feet and running then, her partner's cries forcing her on, she raised her blade over her head, releasing a shrill shriek of anger as she charged her master. Her blade met his and the two locked together, sparking and hissing. He had stopped hurting Larsi and in but a flash of movement had called his lightsabre to him and activated it in time to intercept her.

She batted his blade away and spun on her heel, swinging her blade like a meat clever for his head. He blocked it expertly. She pulled off, spun her lightsabre in her hands and attacked in combinations. Left, right, lower left, spin, higher right. All of her strikes were intercepted so expertly she felt like a child with a stick fighting a veteran soldier with a broadsword.

Their blades locked together and he looked into her eyes. She could just make out his facial features, thin face with high, sharp cheek bones. He was not human, but he could have been a dozen other near-human species. In the low light with the reddish hue of their blades it was nearly impossible to tell much else.

He ended it in a blur.

Her lightsabre was ripped from her hands.

She was raised into the air, feet dangling.

He reached out with his hand and shaped it like a claw.

She held onto her throat, feeling the invisible hand tighten around her neck.

He spoke "Anger, good…that's how it should be. You should hate me, loath me, fear me, and eventually become strong enough to kill me. That is the way of the Sith!"

He threw her to the ground roughly and turned back to Larsi. Freya tried to rise but a heavy weight held her down, a curved blade appeared just above her neck. It was Jaser, looking down at her with a feral snarl and a murderous glare. He had stood there, motionless, the entire time.

She was about to try again when she looked up to see her partner stare at her. The Twi'lek's gaze was glazed over in pain, yet they were still lucid enough to look at her. Pullo opened their link, that special link they shared since they're capture and nightmare in the clutches of Chaos. If they hadn't been there for each other they would not have come out of there with even the slightest concept of sanity.

Don't…stay back!

Her only words, yet she felt the fear. It wasn't for herself, it was for Freya. Darkclaw closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as her master started again. Larsi's screams filled the air anew, and as time went on those cries became weaker and weaker until they stopped altogether.

Her master hid his still sparking hands behind his robes, turned and walked away. Freya forced herself to look up. Her companion's body lay limply on the floor, her form smocking from the torture which claimed her life. She starred at her master with malice and barely contained hatred. He simply starred back, his enshrouded face unreadable once again.

The Dark Eldar lord broke the silence, cackling like a mad animal.

"A most excellent display" he clapped his hands together, the sounds reverberating through the chamber.

The Sith lord ignored his ally "Come" he said.

Three new presences appeared around him, each one forming the points of a triangle around their master, all three figures kneeled, their heads down, eyes closed.

"Rise"

They rose.

"He is here"

"Yes my lord"

He barely gave Freya a glance "Take her from my sight"

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Slowly Anakin opened his eyes, seeing a world of nightmares stretched out before him. The chamber they were in was made of blackish stone with a single table of black marble dominating the centre, on the walls were chained forms, many chained forms. For but a moment he thought that they were all dead. But then he saw a few of them move.

"Anakin" the word was weak. He slowly turned his head to see who had called him.

"Jaina" he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. His sister was chained beside him, her jumpsuit torn to the point where it was just hanging onto her. Her body was bruised, cut in several places, like some possessed madman had had his way with her for months, let alone the couple of weeks that she had gone missing.

"It is you" she whispered weakly, a small smile on her lips before closing her bruised eyes "Thank goodness"

"Jaina" Anakin called in desperation "Jaina!"

She did not answer.

He felt anger roll through him in waves, yet he could tell that the force was well out of his reach. He had enough experiences with anti-force creatures to tell that Ysalamir were within the chamber. He quietly closed his connection and opened up the other. He felt a great fire, so much more violent than the quiet strength of the force.

He knew the subtle changes to himself when he called upon the warp, even though he had never used it since that one time. His eyes would change from the ice blue to a flaming red. His pupils would turn into feral slits. The wrappings around his left hand, covered in black anti-warp runes would slowly come undone. His incisor teeth would lengthen and sharpen.

"Anakin, not yet" he heard Gabriel's voice and saw his master chained to the wall a few meters to his right "Not yet"

Begrudgingly Anakin obeyed, he forced the connection to close and looked at his master questionably. Just as his facial features returned to normal the black double doors opened with a creak and a group of individuals entered. Leading this group was an Eldar, lean and sickly with pale skin and a bald head, he wore light dark purple armour, an assortment of combat and medical blades attached to several belts. Following him where two warriors in full dark armour, splinter rifle slung across their right shoulders and an assortment of pistols and blades sealed in holsters and belts.

The Homunculus stalked towards them, a glint in his maniacal eyes "Yes, yes, these two will do perfectly…I was beginning to worry that my employer had given up on my research!"

He reached up and roughly grabbed Anakin's chin, making him look straight into the Darklings insane eyes, he didn't hesitate, he spat in his face. The Homunculus wiped the spit away and grinned "Yes, yes, I can see the resemblance, that girl there…your sister wasn't it? She did the exact same thing when we first met…not much fight in her now. I was beginning to get bored"

"Sith you" Anakin spat "I swear before this day is out I will take great pleasure in ending your life!"

"Such fire" the Eldar said with a grin "Let's see how long that lasts"

"What have you done with the Inquisitor?" Gabriel questioned.

"Oh her" the Eldar muttered nonchalantly "Hmm, she and her companion have been moved elsewhere, you see we couldn't have the two of you together. It seems that anti-force and anti-warp weapons cancel each other out when within proximity" he broke into a mad cackle "How ironic it is, even their countermeasures destroy each other!"

"That's enough" another entered the chamber, this one garbed in the black robes of a Sith "You speak too much Darkfinger!"

"What are these worms going to do, they're locked up and their powers have been sealed thanks to your little pets"

"Never underestimate a Jedi" was the newcomers reply "They have a habit of pulling off the impossible"

"You should know" the Homunculus whispered "You were one once"

"Yes" he replied with sad reminiscence "Yes I was"

He looked upon Anakin for but a moment before raising his hands and pulling back his hood. There was no mistaking who it was. Jacen Solo looked upon them with fathomless eyes "Hello little brother"

Sorry for the long wait folks, just sort of had another idea for a story and had to put it on paper, anyway after this I'm gonna have a questions and answers session, just like the one for the Thirteenth. Its basically for anyone who want's to point out anything or just has a few ideas they'd like to put forward. Anyway hope you all enjoyed this chapter!