Well, this took a long time! The final scene of this chapter was a hell of a roadblock for me, but I can say with confidence that future chapters will be coming out a lot quicker. Nevertheless, I think this chapter turned out pretty well. But you've waited enough; on with the chapter!
Yellow blaster bolts didn't cease to fly past the four remaining ARC Troopers as they rushed down the arched hallways of the Undercity. Fordo almost lost a finger just a minute ago, and everyone's armor now had several more scorches. They needed to get out.
Zillo signaled the squad right upon a fork in the tunnel. After a signal, Seraph dropped his last smoke grenade before the fork, and the squad sprinted for another minute before Zillo stopped to get a better look at his radar.
"More contacts moving in on our position, sir," Zillo called out to Fordo after a moment.
"Hostile or friendly?" asked Fordo tiredly.
"Too much interference, can't tell," Zillo replied to Fordo's frustration. "It's only a result of damn-good equipment that they work at all."
"Probably safer to take a chance, sir," said Jasper.
Fordo placed a head to his forehead in a frustrated search for thought. "How many?" he eventually asked, motioning to squad to move up.
Zillo observed the radar again. "Five, sir. If we're lucky, it's the rest of the squad plus a Jedi."
"And if we're not, we can take five Mandos," Jasper piped in.
"We're almost out of grenades, I'd rather not," said Seraph.
Fordo shook his head. "Keep moving, we'll hope for the best."
A yellow baster bolt impacted the wall next to Seraph's head, and soon more followed as the ARC Troopers took cover, returning fire before Fordo ordered a retreat.
"Wait, stop, sir!" said Zillo. "Contacts are here."
The blaster fire stopped whizzing by them and began going the opposite direction. They heard the blade of a lightsaber ignite as the hall emanated yellow, they saw and heard blue blaster fire as the lightsaber made three strikes, and then there was silence.
Around the corner walked Sedyn Merrick, yellow lightsaber still in hand, as there came running behind four familiar ARC Troopers. Fargo, Jakkana, Drekkza, and Dingo.
This squad of ARC Troopers, Muunilinst 10, had gained and lost members throughout the Clone War - most notably at Hypori, where General Grievous nearly cut the squad in half. Since then, more members have come and gone for a variety of reasons, and when Strider joined, the squad was up to the maximum number of nine members for the first time since the beginning of the war. It was a shame he was taken so quickly.
Captain Fordo, however, knew otherwise.
"Captain," Drekkza nodded, taking a glace at the squad members. "Strider?"
"Fell behind," Fordo answered in that professional graveness.
Drekkza looked to the ground and shook his head, then looked back up. "Yes, sir," he nodded in the same tone.
"I don't suppose you made any progress?" Sedyn asked after he got up from honoring his fallen brothers.
"Strider died to Maul, if that counts," said Seraph, throwing a stone into the water out of anger.
Seraph had been with the squad the longest besides Fordo, and he had seen too many of his brothers die. Fordo could handle it easily; he was a peak ARC Trooper, ruthless in combat and nigh-emotionless. Seraph wasn't so. Brotherhood was important to him, moreso than really anyone else in the squad. An oddity for an ARC Trooper, in truth.
Fargo sighed out of frustration. "So all this for nothing?"
"No, not quite," said another clone's voice from outside the group.
Everyone turned their heads and looked, only to see Strider striding towards them.
Most clones would have started cheering for their returning brother. But ARC Troopers were smarter than that. They knew the probabilities of a supposedly dead or captured ally returning cheerfully. And so they drew blasters.
With a motion of Strider's hand, the blasters leapt form the Trooper's hands, levitating just out of their reach.
"Now, that's not nice," he said, placing his hands on his helmet to remove it.
And underneath it was the face of General Zaykanian, a wide smile on his face as if to cheerfully surprise them. And surprise them he did. Well, except for Fordo and Merrick, that is.
"General!?" Zillo shouted.
Zaykanian reached into his backpack and put on his regular mask, and responded to them in his regular voice, "Indeed."
"Then where the hell is Strider?" asked Seraph, less than thrilled and throwing his arms back.
"He's fine," Zaykanian replied, laughing. "He's still on the cruiser, awaiting deployment."
"Looking good, sir!" Jasper laughed and snapped his fingers.
The General was now wearing a full suit of clone armor, matching the colors of his last set, along with both a kama and a pauldron, plus his cape, hood, and mask. In summary, an ARC Trooper Jedi.
"Thanks, but I'm still thinking about the pauldron," Zaykanian replied, now walking towards them.
"Pardon my interruption," said Sedyn Merrick dryly, leaning against the wall, "but where's Maul?"
Zaykanian patted Merrick on the head casually, though his height made it slightly awkward. "We'll talk about it on the surface."
Revan, Sedyn, and the near-full squad of ARC Troopers at last emerged from the hole in the street leading to the Sundari undercity. Before them was Anakin, Ahsoka, Commander Rex, and Bo-Katan waiting with a few other clones and Mandalorians.
Bo-Katan wasted no time. "Where's Maul?" she demanded.
"He's a slippery little bastard, unfortunately," Revan replied.
Bo-Katan crossed her arms. "So that was all for nothing?"
"Not at all," Revan replied. "I managed to make it perfectly clear to Maul that he would rather be in Republic custody than be my enemy. I suspect he will soon either surrender or make a desperate attempt to escape."
"We can't afford to waste time, Zaykanian," said Bo-Katan aggressively. "The plan was for you to capture him, not waste time scaring him!"
"If I were to capture him immediately," Revan replied calmly, "his men would have scattered, and we would have had a harder time cleaning them out. By scaring him, I assured him that he wants to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible, thus granting an opportunity to end this cleanly as he and his assets will be out in the open."
Bo-Katan stared in silence for a moment. "Very well," she said, "but if this doesn't work-"
"It will," Revan replied quickly.
Bo-Katan motioned her head, and Sedyn Merrick and the rest Mandalorians with her followed as she left, and the clones soon left, as well, leaving just Revan, Anakin, and Ahsoka.
Revan clasped his hands behind his back as the three started walking away themselves.
They were silent for a moment before he said just what he and Ahsoka were thinking. "You did exactly what Obi-Wan said not to, didn't you?"
"You're damn right I did," Revan replied. "The unfortunate truth of war is that the morally good thing to do will not always guarantee the best result. Learn this lesson well, and you will find the tide turning soon enough."
"And that doesn't seem low to you at all?" asked Ahsoka, not entirely agreeing.
"Of course it's low, Ahsoka," Revan replied. "The trick is in knowing when it's worth it in the end. Think in terms of the long run, and you will succeed."
"Yet you could also focus so much on the long run you forget the terrible things you're doing now."
Revan was slightly caught off guard by Ahsoka's reply, and needed a moment of thought before returning his own.
"Consider this, Ahsoka. You are the ruler of a city, waging war on another city, and they deploy a massive attack force to attack a poorly-defended territory full of innocent lives, perhaps a large cluster of villages and such. What do you do?"
Ahsoka was slightly surprised by the question, if not only for the perceived obviousness of the answer.
"Assuming I have enough, I deploy soldiers to defend the villages, of course," she answered.
"A reasonable answer, and one most would pick," Revan replied. "Yet consider this: the enemy has deployed a large part of their attack force, leaving behind minimal defenses for their city. Whereas you deploy soldiers to defend the city, I throw everything I have at their now-exposed capital."
"And leave all those innocents to die?" Ahsoka reeked of disapproval.
"Yes," Revan replied. "Yet in doing so, I quickly end the entire war, likely preventing even more death, pain, and destruction in the future, whereas you win a battle and save lives in the present of a war that will only continue. In summary, you would win a battle, I would win a war."
They continued walking again, silently. Ahsoka wanted to say something, but Revan decided it would have to wait. He had other ideas for the time being.
"So, Revan-" Ahsoka tried to begin, but Revan cut her off with the unexpected.
"Anakin!" he called as he struck with an ignited emerald lightsaber. The Chosen One swiftly activated his own blade and blocked, and both Anakin and Ahsoka were clearly surprised.
The two exchanged a few more blows before Revan temporarily retreated, both still in combat stances.
"Very good, Anakin!" Revan complimented.
"We couldn't have, like, scheduled this?" Anakin replied.
"Where's the fun in that?" Revan replied as he struck once more, a crowd now drawing near.
They exchanged a few more quick clashes, Revan analyzing Anakin's movements. The young Knight was aggressive in his attacks, continuously attempting to push Revan on the defensive with smooth and powerful strikes. Thus, Revan chose the form he would use for this fight in particular.
"Djem So, I see?" said Revan, exiting the flurry of clashes with a spin of both himself and his lightsaber.
"Gets the job done," Anakin replied, his focus on the fight, ready for the attack he made a few moments later.
Revan utilized Soresu, a defensive form and one of the three he placed his focus on, and in doing so, he held Anakin at bay.
Skywalker was a far more skilled duelist than Revan anticipated, but he was also keen on drawing the duel out so as to teach and learn from him. And so, he held back.
The two crossed into a momentary saber lock, then quickly separated.
"Pour yourself into it, Anakin," Revan counseled. "Whatever you're feeling, love, joy, hate, anger alike. As long as you don't serve it, you can make it serve you!"
After a deep breath, Anakin responded with a flurry of quick and powerful attacks, his intention to break Revan's guard. And he very nearly did.
Revan's use of Soresu, however, kept him in-tact, and long enough to consider a route for evening the odds.
Revan forced Anakin into a spin that he quickly recovered from, but gave Revan enough time to retreat and swap forms. It wasn't uncommon for him to use Soresu until he understood how his target fought. It was at this point that he switched to either Ataru or Juyo, his primary forms, though it wasn't uncommon to choose a different one altogether, for Revan prided himself on having mastered all seven.
And today, he decided to go easy on the young Jedi and use Ataru, the acrobatic form.
He found Anakin's surprise at his sudden ad frequent use of of flips, dashes, and spins in a new series of attacks to be most amusing. His speed of attacks nearly doubled, but the Chosen One managed to keep up regardless.
"How many-" Anakin said, interrupted by Revan's flurry of a single lightsaber blade. "How many forms are you even using?"
Revan forced Anakin into a saber lock to answer.
"Yes!" he answered both vaguely and clearly before leaving the lock, spinning out of the way before resuming his unending strikes.
The two Mandalorians stood in silence for a moment.
Bo-Katan was staring at a holotable, clearly with something else on her mind.
Sedyn Merrick was awaiting her words, his focus singular and clear. It was a moment more before Do-Katan spoke.
"I'm told you spoke to Zaykanian."
Sedyn nodded once. "I did."
"And what did you talk about?"
The bounty hunter shook his head, still perplexed by the encounter. "I... tried to gain some insight on who he really was. I left with more questions than I had before." Then he focused himself with the one answer he had gotten: "All I know is that there is far more to him than we know."
Bo-Katan nodded, holding back her words for a moment as she took a deep breath. "I have a feeling the Jedi know more about him than we do."
"Is that all too surprising?" Sedyn crossed his arms. "I only wonder if they know everything or not, but the fact that they know more is unquestionable."
Bo-Katan left the table, stood tall, and crossed her arms. "I'd like to start changing that."
Sedyn smirked, unsurprised.
"I'm not the only one who noticed his similarities in appearance with Revan, and I doubt you haven't noticed, either," she continued. "He walks in after a long 'trip in the Outer Rim' and instantly begins winning battles and getting friends in high places, and he's here to add one more to what I suspect is going to grow to very long list of achievements."
"So you think he's too good to be true?" Merrick said with a furled eyebrow beneath his helmet.
"Maybe, maybe not," Bo-Katan replied, evidently with as few answers as Sedyn had. "All I'm saying is that this is, without a doubt, very much worth investigating, whether or not he's genuinely on our side."
Sedyn now knew why he was summoned here. "So you want me to investigate?"
"Follow him around," she replied. "Befriend him, ask him questions, earn his trust, get us all the answers you can."
"Not a very... Mandalorian thing to do, I must admit," Sedyn replied, chin in hand, "but I suppose following him around will lead to one or two adventures. I might even have one of my own for him."
"Either way, we need to know," Bo-Katan said, walking closer to him. "Think you can handle it?"
Sedyn gave a deep breath, thinking for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure, in honesty, due to Zaykanians rather mysterious nature," he admitted, "but it's certainly worth a shot."
Bo-Katan nodded. "I thought as much." She went to leave before Sedyn interrupted with a question of his own.
"These rumors of him being... Revan," he forced out, still unable to believe it.
"That's impossible, Merrick, we both know that," she answered the question he didn't need to speak. "Revan the Butcher died thousands of years ago, and if he did come back, it certainly wouldn't be to help Mandalore."
"Well, of course it's impossible," said Sedyn, releasing his folded arms. "I just... can't help but feel otherwise."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we both know that I'm Force-sensitive." He leaned against the wall. "That means I can see things others can't, and when I look at Zaykanian... I can't describe it, really. All I know for certain is that he is not and ordinary Jedi in any sense."
Bo-Katan stared at him, not sure what to make of his words. "What are you saying?" she asked.
"I don't know what I'm saying, I'm only trying to describe something indescribable," he replied, trying to make sense of his own words. "I suppose the only sense we can derive from this situation is that we need to be open to all possibilities."
"Even the impossibilites?"
Sedyn smirked. "I'm no Jedi or philosopher, but I can tell you that this tool of mine called the Force acts... oddly, sometimes."
Bo-Katan silently nodded. "Then you can keep on eye on that, too, then."
Sedyn extended a hand, and Bo-Katan shook it firmly.
"For Mandalore," she said.
"And for her glory," he completed.
Dozens of clones and Mandalorians were standing in a circle around them, cheering as they would during a sport. In truth, Revan would be doing the same.
Unexpectedly, in the middle of his attack, Anakin let out a powerful push from his hand, creating a nigh-visible shockwave and sending Revan back several feet. He was knocked off his feet, but he controlled it in the form of a flip, and he landed smoothly.
Immediately, Revan began a new attack, but Anakin was prepared.
He blocked the first strike so hard Revan could not move into his next smooth enough, and with Anakin's blade pushing against his own, he felt a metal grip on his wrist, preventing further movement of his saber.
Revan had always heard of the raw power people could see when staring into his eyes, but he never knew truly what that was like until he found himself seeing, in that moment, the same thing in Anakin's eyes.
The raw power and strength in those eyes was wild, untamed, begging to be let out, but caged in by Jedi philosophies beginning to weaken.
It was in that moment that Revan realized, truly, that Anakin Skywalker was the most important man in the galaxy right now.
It was in that moment that Revan realized another purpose, and that purpose was to guide this lost soul and the power it had within so that it might benefit the galaxy and not destroy it.
And it was in that moment that Revan lost focus just long enough for Anakin to twirl Revan's blade out of his hand, and he soon found himself with a blue blade at his throat.
The crowd erupted into cheering, either from shock or celebration, and Anakin found himself laughing, as well, before de-activating the blade and returning Revan's to him.
Revan found himself in too much shock to say anything other than, "Not bad," with a chuckle.
"You're right, it was more fun that way," Anakin smirked. "Maybe I'll try it on you next time."
"Yeah, and I'll give it my all next time, high-and-mighty-walker!" Revan teased back.
"Oh, cut it out, you two!" Ahsoka laughed, approaching the two as the crowd dispersed.
Anakin folded his arms. "I'm just surprised he lost!" he said with a gesture.
"If I was actually trying, Anakin, I would have won in eight seconds," Revan replied, finger raised. "Trust me."
Ahsoka tilted her head, looking for an honest answer.
"Okay, fine," Revan conceded. "Twelve seconds, tops." He shook his head, let out a final laugh, then removed his mask and spoke again in a more serious tone. "I'm going to do some meditating in my tent. Please don't disturb me unless it's important."
"We had something else to discuss first, actually," Ahsoka rushed out of her mouth, as if she was afraid to say it, and Anakin seemed to wear a similar expression.
Revan turned back around to face them, a curious expression on his face. "And what would that be?" he asked, calmly crossing his arms with a wave of his hand.
Ahsoka took something our of her pocket as she and Anakin looked at each other. Anakin seemed to have an easier time masking his own nervousness than Ahsoka.
Se reached out her hand for Revan to take it. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a picture.
A picture.
Revan would have thought pictures on paper would have gone extinct by now, though he supposed there was certain charm to them, the same that kept written books from being totally replaced by many of the electronic means that have arisen and such.
But that wasn't it. The picture was worn, and it had a certain familiarity to it. Wait a minute...
His hand hidden under his cape, he checked his pockets.
It wasn't there.
His aura of curiosity quickly faded, his breathing grew shaky, and he ever so slowly opened the folded paper in his hands. And it was exactly as he realized.
It was of him and Bastila. His very last remnant of a time and place he would never return to. All he had left of his life, his world, his love.
Revan swallowed his spit in silence before looking upward toward the two souls who gave it back to him. He took a deep, yet quiet, breath to recompose himself.
"Who was she?" Ahsoka asked.
Oh, of course, he thought. It was a well-meaning question, he was sure, but one he had no interest in discussing.
He shook his head with a breath before he put his mask back on. "Thank you for returning this to me," he quickly and plainly said before turning to leave.
He took only a few steps before Ahsoka took a few steps of her own before speaking. "You didn't answer my question."
Revan stopped dead in his tracks.
"You can trust us," Ahsoka sympathetically added.
It's not about that, he muttered, barely loud enough for them to hear, before turning back around to stare in silence for moment.
"She's not someone I'm willing to discuss right now," he replied with a hidden sadness in his voice. "Don't burden yourselves with my past."
And with that, he left.
Aww, Revan's sad :( Let's see what everyone else can do to cheer him up :)
Be sure to leave a review, and I'll see you next chapter! May the Fprce be with you!