-Carth-

Sneaking into Malak's chambers wouldn't work. Both he and Revan would sense me immediately. I didn't want to throw Revan off; this was her fight after all. I was just there to make sure she and Mission stayed alive.

If I could even manage to keep myself alive, that is.

I could hear voices ahead of me. My hands instinctively went to my blasters and ripped them from the holsters. I couldn't quite hear what the voices were saying, but one of them was definitely female.

Slowly, I rounded the corner, blaster raised, my back pressed tightly against the wall. I peered around and found the owners of the voices and immediately I felt sick to my stomach.

"Well done, Revan. I was certain that the defenses of the Star Forge would destroy you, but I see there is more of your old self in you than I expected."

I watched at Revan turned towards Malak. She made no move for her lightsaber. She simply stared at him; pure hatred nestled into her eyes. I could vaguely see the shiver that ran down her spine.

Malak took a few steps closer to her, but he was nowhere near strike range. But I wasn't going to underestimate him. He could use the Force and be on Revan in less than a second. My trigger finger was itching quite badly to just shoot him in the head and end it.

But this was Revan's chance at a complete redemption. I wasn't going to deprive her of that. No matter how bad I wanted to kill him myself.

"You are stronger than I thought; stronger than you ever were during your reign as the Dark Lord. I did not think that was possible." Malak continued, his hand dangling dangerously close to the hilt of his lightsaber.

Revan didn't take her eyes off of him. "You underestimate the power of the light side, Malak." She paused, adding: "You always did." Not without a hint of sadness in her voice.

The way Malak's eyes slanted, I could tell he would have been smiling a hideous grin if he had a jaw. "I am tempted to capture you alive, Revan. Then I could break your will and bind you to me as my apprentice, as I did Bastila."

Over my dead body, I thought angrily. I watched as Revan's body tensed. Had she sensed me? Had she read my thoughts?

If she did, she made no acknowledgement of me. "You can surrender now, Malak. Perhaps if you do, the Jedi Council and the Republic might be lenient towards you."

The Sith Lord ignored her comment and began to pace, never taking eyes off of Revan, eyeing her as if she were some trophy. I became more than a little angry the way his eyes traveled down the length of her body; I had to stop myself from running the rest of the way into the room.

I glanced over at Mission's kolto tank at the other side of the room. She hadn't noticed me either. Her eyes were fixed on Revan and Malak, her eyes wide with fear. I was torn between trying to help Revan, and rescuing Mission.

Revan, of course, would want me to focus on Mission's safety, and I knew I should. But my mind and my heart were raging a constant battle. If I took my eyes off Revan, Malak could kill her with a single blow. I didn't want to watch another woman that I loved die by the hands of this monster.

So I decided to wait. Wait until either combatant made the first move, so that they would be too distracted in their fight to bother with me. I didn't like waiting.

"Perhaps you are too powerful to be my apprentice. I betrayed you when I realized my own strength was greater than yours; in time you might do the same to me."

Revan's eyes narrowed. "I will never serve the dark side again, Malak."

Malak chuckled. "Foolish words. The darkness and the light wage a constant battle within you. The balance is tipped one was now, but it can easily be tipped back. I saw you back on Korriban, when you discovered your old lightsaber within the tomb of Naga Sadow."

"I knew it smelled bad in there for a reason."

Malak frowned, and somehow his voice gained even more venom. "Savior, conqueror, hero, villain. You are all of these things Revan…and yet you are nothing. In the end, you belong to neither the light nor the darkness. You will forever stand alone."

-Revan-

I allowed myself to give a glance towards Mission, who was staring back at me, wide-eyed in terror. I was going to have to end this quickly to be able to save her. I knew Carth was in the room somewhere, planning to rush to her aide, but I didn't see him, and I hoped he would change his mind. I didn't need more bodies added to the pile of millions I had already killed. Let alone the lives of two of the people I love most. "I believe in the power of redemption."

Malak laughed evilly. "Of course. What else do you have? Fate and destiny have conspired to keep you alive despite my best efforts; they have thrust you into the role of savior.

"We have been inexorably pushed into this final confrontation," Malak continued, taking several steps closer to me. "I see now that this can only be settled when one of us destroys the other."

I turned my attention back to my former friend and lover. "It doesn't have to be this way, Malak. I was redeemed. You can be, too. If you want it."

The Sith Lord's eyes burned with hatred. "Spare me your preaching, Revan. I have no need for it. We shall face each other in single combat…and the victor will decide the fate of the galaxy!"

Without warning, Malak ignited his lightsaber and charged me. I called my lightsaber to my hand quickly and intercepted his deadly blows. His crimson red lightsaber clashing against my blue one, causing sparks to fly in every direction.

Malak's face was only inches from mine as he tried to push his weapon against mine. My back cracked in protest as it arched backwards. "I will break you," he hissed.

I heard Carth move from his corner and move towards Mission's kolto tank. But I had to keep my attention focused on Malak. I couldn't let my friends distract me. I had to finish this now before more innocent blood, the blood of my friends, was shed.

I ducked another fatal blow and sent my lightsaber towards my former apprentice, grazing his calf. Malak grunted in pain and quickly moved away from me in a blur of movement.

I suddenly had the air knocked out of me as I was pushed backwards with invisible force as my back hit the hard, metal flooring.

I felt a pair of hands quickly grab my waist and pull me up. "Where is he?" I heard Carth ask. "Are you okay?"

I glanced around the room, but found no trace of Malak. I heard, however, a strange noise coming from the top platform. I turned to Carth. "Get out of here. Now."

Carth frowned and gripped my shoulders. "No! I'm not leaving you and Mission."

I closed my eyes. There is no emotion. There is peace. "Carth, you need to leave. I can't risk losing you and Mission." I snapped and turned my back to him.

He gripped my shoulder gently and turned me back around to face him. "And we can't afford to lose you." He looked at my sternly and lowered his voice. "I'm not leaving without you."

I could hear the sounds of footsteps coming towards us. Frantically, I shook my head. "Fine, stay if you want. But please, if you love me, stay out of the way." I hissed, but softened my voice at the hurt look on Carth's face, and hugged him to me. "I don't want to lose you."

Suddenly, Carth was wrenched from my grasp. He was floating out of my reach, clawing at his throat. I whirled around and saw Malak coming towards us again; all of his wounds completely healed and his power had completely regenerated.

I glared angrily at him. "Let him go, Malak. This is between you and me. Leave my friends out of this."

The Sith Lord laughed evilly. "As you wish, Revan." He leased Carth only after throwing him into Mission's kolto tank. I watched in horror as the glass around the young twi'lek shattered and Carth's lifeless body landed in a pile of blood and broken glass. Mission landed, unconscious on top of him.

I tried to send the Force to heal them, but Malak stopped me. "You continue to amaze me, Revan. If only you had been the one to uncover the true power of the Star Forge you might have become invincible. But you were a fool. All you saw was an enormous factory – all you ever imagined was an infinite fleet rolling forth to crush the Republic. You were blind, Revan – blind and stupid."

I frowned, confused and more than a little angry. "What are you talking about?"

"The Star Forge is more than just a space station. In some ways, it's almost like a living creature. I'm sure you could feel the dark side calling to you. It hungers. And it can feed on the darkness that is within us all."

Malak gestured around the massive room. "Look around you, Revan. See the bodies? You should recognize them from the Academy. These are the Jedi who fell when I attacked Dantooine. For all intends and purposes, dead. Except for one difference – I have not allowed them to become one with the Force. Instead, I have brought them here. The Star Forge corrupts what remains of their power and transfers the dark taint to me."

I felt the hope of defeating Malak begin to dwindle. Unless I could find a way to disable what he had done to these poor men and woman, my fellow Jedi, he would keep reenergizing himself until I was too weak to fight him.

I was going to fail the Republic. Fail the galaxy.

Fail Carth.

"You cannot beat me, Revan. Not here on the Star Forge. Not when I can draw upon the power of all these Jedi! And once you are beaten, I will do the same to you. You will be trapped in a terrible existence between life and death, your power feeing me as I conquer the galaxy!"

This was not going to end well. I could already feel my energy and Force power deteriorate. I was tired. I wanted this to be over and go back to the Hawk and take a nice, long nap.

But it appeared that that wasn't in the cards. I was either going to defeat Malak and rescue my friends before the Republic began to bombard the Star Forge, or I was going to die here and fail at everything that I had worked so damned hard for.

I wouldn't be responsible for any more deaths after this. I had too many people counting on me. The fate of the entire galaxy rest in my hands, and it was quite a heavy burden.

It would have been so much easier to just give in to Malak and become his apprentice. But I would rather him strike me down now than to go that route again.

I couldn't let it happen. I had to put a stop to this. And I was determined that if I was going down, I would be taking Malak with me.

And that is exactly what I planned on doing.

I reignited my lightsaber and rushed towards Malak. This was going to end now.

No matter what happened.

I'm sorry this is so short, guys, and I apologize on how long this took me. I've been having severe writer's block and plus work is kicking my butt.

I promise the next chapter will be longer. My schedule at work has been completely flipped because only other baker there is on vacation. I normally would have had this weekend off but I had to work because of that. Ugh. Don't hate me forever.

Kaia Moonchild: yeah didn't get much SWG time for this chapter. Meh, what can ya do. Hope you liked it anyway.

Artemis-Delilah-Avari: Yep, there's definitely going to be a sequel. I wasn't a huge fan of KOTOR 2, so I'm not exactly sure what path I'm going to take it down yet, but I'm sure the Exile and Atton will make an appearance ;-)

DhtrofIsis: Heh, don't kill me for the shortness of this chapter! hides but considering my work schedule, you can forgive me, right? Right?

Lady April: drum-roll please

Dvana:Ah, yes. SWG is definitely the Dark Side. And I hope you enjoy the evil ending to this chapter as well ;-) I aim to please.

Selena Mars: Thank you! The sequel will be just as long, if not longer as long as I can keep up with the ideas I have running through my head. Or maybe that's just voices…who knows.

Anaya: Oh no, don't worry, I never get tired of hearing "good job!" ;-)

Sundiz-Star: Thank you, thank you :-D Hope you liked this chapter as well!