Lara and her brother stood face to face opposite each other, green and red-orange lightsaber blades touching each other in preparation for what no doubt would be mortal combat. Neither was making any kind of offensive move. Their lockup was more of a feeling out process to see who could unnerve the other first. The crackling sound and burnt smell of the blades making contact filled the air around them as they pushed each other's blades just slightly enough to get a sense of who might strike first.
Caine broke the sizing up exercise by quickly crouching and taking low swipe towards Lara's knee, but she easily leaped over his blade. As she landed, she tried to swing hard downward at her still crouching opponent but his speed was too much for her as he deftly blocked the blow with his own saber and kicked her hard in the gut from his low position. The power of his foot to her stomach knocked Lara backward about five meters but Caine didn't follow up. He simply stood upright, twirled his saber and then held it motionless vertically in front of his face., challenging her to come towards him and lockup again.
She steadied herself and slowly paced back to stand in front of him again. As she closed the distance she nodded to him as if to say, first move to you. She then raised her green blade again to the ready position. Caine, however, didn't extend his blade to cross them as he had before. With lightning speed he surprised her by vaulting over her, flipping in midair, and when he landed trying to stab her straight through the back. If Lara would have been one millisecond later, he would have run her right through with the glowing rod of plasma, but she was able to turn around while swinging her saber with one hand, just barely deflecting the killing strike away.
She now realized the time for probing was over, he didn't delay in taking another shot at her body, this time a two handed upward slash that she didn't actually block. She dodged and it just missed grazing her thigh as the blade whipped in front of her. Lara quickly countered his slash with a horizontal swipe that would have bisected her brother if he hadn't quickly blocked it and then jumped backwards to get out of her striking distance.
Both of them were now fighting with full abandon with nary a pause to catch a breath. They swung and countered, stabbed and blocked. Each offensive move brought a stunning defensive countermove that would have brought adulation and cheers if this was ten years ago and they were Padawans in training. This was no practice exercise, though. This was a fight to the death between two siblings who had grown so far apart that nothing could reconcile them. The humming and cracking of their blows echoed off the walls of the room that was now in almost complete disarray and the glow of their weapons made colorful shadows dance all over the walls like disembodied spirits watching the battle from a distance.
As the duel continued to crescendo, both combatants began to tire which made for a dangerous situation. Blows that would have easily been blocked at the outset could have a devastating effect now. Split second decisions that needed to be made almost subconsciously might be delayed because of mental fatigue, leading to a someone making mistake that could cost their life.
Sweat was running down into Lara's eyes and her breathing was becoming a bit labored as she deflected another powerful blow from Caine. She looked into his eyes to get an indication of what he might be planning, but could only see cold darkness. Another blow came and she dodged it but not by much. He was too strong…too athletic. For the first time she admitted to herself that she was in over her head. He was actually toying with her and there was nothing she could do to gain the upper hand. As if he read her mind, Caine stopped attacking.
"It's futile for you to continue fighting.", he said to her as he lowered the tip of his lightsaber blade toward the floor. "Tell me where Skywalker is."
Lara said nothing. She just stood motionless with her own saber in defensive position, not trusting that he was finished attacking.
"Are you still ashamed of your bloodline?", he asked after a long moment of silence. A question that seemed to come out of nowhere.
"It's something we shared for a long time.", Caine continued. "Although I suspect for different reasons."
Still Lara did not reply.
"You never could reconcile the fact that you are the granddaughter of a monster that murdered billions and helped eradicate the Jedi Order.", he said
"And you hate that your grandfather was Anakin Skywalker, hero of the Clone Wars…a good and noble man that eventually rejected the Dark Side for the love of his son.", Lara snapped back, finally willing to speak.
"It's true that I used to be tormented by that thought." He replied "But I have long since moved past that. I've realized that his monumental moment of weakness was a lesson….the most important lesson I could have learned."
"And what is that?", said Lara, still on high alert with her weapon raised and ready.
"That there is no such thing as family. It's a useless concept that weakens us and prevents us from becoming the best we can.", Caine informed her. "Vader couldn't overcome the guilt of his wife's death and then at the end couldn't bring himself to destroy his son."
"Your parents are not going to be so lucky.", he stated. "In mere minutes both of them along with these others strewn about this room will be dead by my hand."
Lara tried to remain calm as she stared at what used to be her brother but was now just a twisted abomination.
"And when you watch them die without being able to help, just as you watched the dear children Sallah and Lenn take their last breath, you'll finally break. Then you'll tell me everything I want to know.", Caine hissed as if he had somehow morphed into a reptilian predator.
Upon hearing those words, her mind started to snap much earlier than even Caine predicted. A blood curdling scream of rage originated deep within her and quickly forced its way to her throat. As Lara howled, she sprinted forward to kill him. Her vision became tunnel, her ears heard only white noise and her muscles wanted only one thing….to strike him down and send him to where not even the ancient dead Sith Lords dared enter.
She swung with a fury, her blade hitting his with a thunderous clamor. Her brother, however, hardly reacted except to smile and laugh at her. For a moment she was transported out of her mind and was certain she was looking out from behind his eyes. The image she saw terrified her. She was looking at herself in the present moment. Her green saber was illuminating her eyes and when she looked closer she noticed that she had the same eyes as her brother-demon red pupils surrounded by a sickly shade of yellow where the white should be. She had become what she always feared she would. A feeling of hopelessness washed over her very soul as she finally realized you could never escape your destiny.
