Chapter 16: Of Cores and Crystals

Kira dove to her side to avoid the incoming blade. She combat rolled and was back on her feet, lightsaber in hand, ready to do battle. Her assailant strutted around her in a circle, no look of distress visible on their face, and it was clear to her that they were taking in her capabilities at the moment.

Kira, not one to go down without a fight, and with a fire lit inside her to give as good as she can get, went on the offensive.

She struck out at her assailant and rained down heavy blow after blow. Kira watched as her attacker's yellow eyes widened for a second in shock. A small grin started to form on their face before they returned to the stoic look, they had adopted.

The battle raged on as Kira kept trying to break their guard, but she was never able to. Her movements didn't feel as precise as they once used to be. Her lightsaber felt heavier and weighty compared to how it used to be light and airy. As if it was just another part of her body. That extra "limb" of hers however was beginning to feel more and more like deadweight the longer the fight went on.

Kira could feel it in the air. The exact moment when the momentum shifted, when her attacker grew tired of this farce of an assault she was trying to put up and moved from playing defensively to moving in for the kill.

In one fell swoop her attack was deflected, her lightsaber was knocked from her hand hard, and she was stumbling backwards as she fell. She heard her lightsaber clang roughly against the wall.

She wishes she could she say that it was close, but she knew the truth. This was never a battle, never even really a contest. She had been beaten before it even truly began. This entire thing had just been a humiliating dance she had to endure before the end.

She watched as the blade came swinging at her. She didn't close her eyes nor flinch. After all that just happened, she wasn't about to give them that too.

The blade stopped mere inches from her neck, she could faintly feel the heat coming off the saber on her neck. A purple glow was overtaking her face. Then just as quickly as it appeared, the lightsaber was pulled back and put away.

"Well, that was certainly a good fight," Lana said extending a hand out towards her.

Kira looked at her hand for a second before reaching up and accepting her offer to help her up.

"Good fight? Please I don't want your pity. You can call it what it was. I received a good ass kicking is what it was," she said as she rose from the ground.

"Yes, well it seemed rude to come out and call it that."

A loud snarky laugh could be heard off over in the sidelines where a crowd of spectators had gathered to watch the battle.

"Pay up suckers! I told you she'd win!" said Tora.

A bunch of mumbles and unhappy losers sounded out, but everyone ended up paying what they owed.

Kira force pulled her lightsaber back to herself and reattached it to her belt. The two of them walked back towards the training grounds entrance.

Kira sighed, annoyed at her loss, but mostly annoyed at herself. She and Kal were one of, if not the best two Jedi the order had. While Kal had remained at the top she couldn't help feeling like she was sinking lower and lower every day. She'd be surprised if she would still be ranked in the top 100 of the order.

She paused near the doorway and sat down on one of the benches there.

"I don't get!" she said, her voice tipping Lana off to her frustration and sadness. "I used to be able to fight, used to be able to take care of myself. I should have had no problems taking you on!" She bent over and threw her face into her hands.

"Hey, I think I could have at least put up a decent fight," Lana said trying to inject some levity into the situation. When she saw she wasn't getting a response she tried a different approach.

She sat down on the bench next to her and put her hand on the shoulder nearest to her. Squeezing it lightly she said, "Tell me about the fight? How did you feel?"

Kira dropped her hands to her lap, blew out a breath, and leaned her head back against the wall. She stared up at the open sky above them.

"I don't know. It felt wrong. I felt slow, like I was having to fight against myself as much as you every time I tried to make a move."

"Hmm, yes, I did think you were moving rather slowly. Every attacked you made was very telegraphed."

Lana didn't say anything more, but Kira could tell she was thinking deeply about the problem.

"How does your lightsaber feel?"

Kira was about to rashly sound out that her lightsaber was fine but taking a second to stop and think about it she knew her lightsaber felt anything but fine.

"Lately it feels heavy. It feels like it's trying to fight me at every turn."

"I think we've found the problem."

"What?" Kira turned and looked Lana in the eyes. "No, I've had this lightsaber since I was a padawan. I haven't changed lightsabers in all the years since I became Kal's padawan, so why would it give up on me now?"

"Same reason Kal had to build a new one, despite still loving his old one. Because our lightsabers are a part of ourselves, an extension of oneself. When you go through hardship you rarely come out the other side unscathed."

Lana stopped and pushed an unruly strand of hair of Kira's back behind her ear.

"Like a baby blanket. You grow so used to having it around but as you grow you know you need to let it go. It might be hard at first, but you know the only way to truly grow is by letting go of the past."

Kira chortled. "You did not just compare a lightsaber to a baby blanket," she said still laughing.

Lana grew a smile on her face.

"Okay while maybe not my finest analogy my point still stands. Time to let go of the old and in with the new."

Kira pulled out her lightsaber and just held it flat in her hand. Felt the weight of it, the balance shift as she moved. Gone were the days where it felt so light, as if it wasn't even there.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess it's time to outgrow the baby blanket."

"Kira!" cried out a peppy voice.

Kira stood up as she saw Vette running out from the entrance and over towards them.

"Vet-" she started to say before she was interrupted by Vette launching herself at her and wrapping her in a quick hug. "Woah hello to you too."

Vette broke the hug apart before launching into a tirade. "Wow that fight was awesome! You were awesome! You were all like ching, bam, wham," she said acting out each sound effect.

"Wasn't awesome enough though."

Vette shrugged. "Well, you might have lost, but you put on a good show."

"Hmph." Kira rolled her eyes. "So did you make a pretty credit off of some well-placed bets?"

"What? Me? No, I wouldn't bet on a fight against you and Mistress Beniko, and even if I did, I wouldn't bet against you," she said unconvincingly.

"You know we can see the credits sticking out of your pockets right Vette?" Lana interrupted with.

Vette looked down and did indeed see a few credit chits sticking out. Quickly shoving them down she let out a nervous laughter.

"Haha no… no I didn't. Sorry Kira and Mistress Beniko."

Lana and Kira both broke out a smile at her response.

"Vette please, just call me Lana. Any friend of Kira and Kal's is a friend of mine," she said pleasantly.

"Oh of course Mistres- uh I mean Beniko- I mean Lana."

Lana and Kira were laughing heartily while Vette was just staring awkwardly down at the floor now.

"Okay! Moving on before I embarrass myself anymore then I already have, I came to see if you wanted to hang out Kira?"

Kira looked over to Lana.

"If you want to go ahead. I'll make sure all the parts you'll need will be sitting in the room, ready for you to go."

Kira gave her a thankful smile.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Turning back towards Vette, she said "Alright Vette I'm all yours. What did you have in mind?"

"Great! Well first I thought we could hit the cantina and then, oh Mistr- err Lana, you can of course come too if you'd like?"

"Thank you, Vette, but I've been away for too long. You two go have fun though."

"Are you sure?" asked Kira.

"Positive."

Kira gave her a head nod in acknowledgement.

"Well Vette lets hit that cantina and then you can tell me the rest of the plan."

When Kira walked into the room, she saw crates scattered about. Cracking one open, she peered inside one of them and noticed this crate was filled with lightsaber switches. She assumed the rest of the crates were similarly filled with other lightsaber parts.

She cracked them all open and dragged them so they were near the desk. She moved the chair out of the way and sat down on the floor in a seiza position. She closed her eyes and began meditating. Once she reached a state of calmness she reached out for the parts.

She could feel the force lifting random parts from the boxes. She threw her senses out there and felt each part. Testing if it felt right. More often than not it didn't, and she would have to place the part back down in the box and draw forth a new one.

She did this for every box full of lightsaber parts. Suffice to say this whole process took quite a while. Finally though, she felt all the parts she had chosen slowly come together and assemble to create her new lightsaber.

When she felt, more then heard, the last pieces click together she opened her eyes and took in her new dualsaber. It had a wooden hilt with markings along one side. The two sides of the hilt were carved out to expose the inner workings, wires, and the crystal sitting inside the middle of it. Or at least it would show the crystal once there was one actually in there.

Nearing the emitters, she could see small amounts of black leather that reached down to cover part of the hilt. Looking further up she saw a golden covering over the emitter. It jotted out with two prongs that curved to meet back together with a small gap in between them.

She wouldn't admit it, but she was a little scared to pick it up. Afraid that after all this she would pick it up and it wouldn't feel right. That her beautiful new lightsaber would reject her just like her old one was.

Picking it up though she found her fears unfounded as she relished in the feeling of rightness once again coursing through her. She gave it a few practice swings and it felt light and easy to do. She didn't feel it fighting her like her old one did.

Happy and proud that she had her missing limb back she reached down and grabbed her old dualsaber. Putting her new one back down on the table she removed the casing on the old one. She reached inside to remove the crystal, but when her fingers touched it, she felt a zap.

"Ouch," she said withdrawing her fingers from the casing. She shook her hand trying to get rid of the burning feeling she had coursing through it. Once the pain had resided, she peered at the crystal.

"So, it was you huh? You've had enough of me?" she asked the crystal.

Silence was the only answer she received.

Growing angry she threw the lightsaber away from her, not caring where it landed. She felt tears threating to escape from her eyes.

"After everything we've been through, I can't believe you just up and throw me away without warning," she whispered to herself.

"Kira," came the soft and pitying voice of Kal.

Turning around Kira saw Kal standing there with her old lightsaber in his hand.

"Kal, how long have you been here?" she asked wiping at her eyes.

"Just in time to stop you from making a dent in our nice walls," he said with a small smile. "Come here."

He pulled softly on one of her hands and wrapped his arms around her. She reciprocated and rested her head on his shoulder. After a few moments he pulled back from her.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded and took a deep breath.

"Good, now what's going on? Lana told me you were building a new lightsaber."

He peered around behind her and saw the new lightsaber sitting there on the table.

"Or built a new lightsaber I see," he amended.

"Yeah," she said turning towards her new saber. "Lana pointed out to me that the reason I was having difficulties fighting was because my old lightsaber wasn't working with me anymore. It kept fighting me with every move I tried to make."

Kal gave out a small laugh. "Heh I know the feeling."

She turned back around to look at him. "You do?"

"Of course," he said giving her a look as if he thought she was silly. "You didn't think I've changed lightsabers all these different times just for the hell of it did you?"

She looked down to her side in wonder. "I don't know. I guess I never really thought of why you changed them so much."

"Let me show you something."

Grabbing her hand, he led her over to a chest he kept at the foot of the bed. Opening it up she saw all his old lightsabers sitting in there. She knew what was in the chest, it was the same one he used to keep in their room on board the Defender, but she had never opened it before and seen the lightsabers lined up so neatly inside.

"That first one on the left, that was the first lightsaber I ever had. The one I created at the forge on Tython."

He pointed to the lightsaber on the left of the chest. The one that had been sliced into two pieces.

"Losing that one on Angral's ship hurt but in the end it wouldn't have mattered. After Master Orgus's death and after we defeated Darth Angral things were different. I was different. I don't believe even if that lightsaber had survived the fight, that I still would have been able to use it afterwards."

He reached in and pulled out the second lightsaber. He spun it around in his hand, never igniting it, but merely to feel its weight after so long.

"My second lightsaber. The one that belonged to the Hero of Tython, and subsequently, the first one to ever reject me."

"You talk as if the Hero of Tython is dead."

"Well for all intents and purposes he is. The Hero of Tython died the day he was captured onboard the Emperor's space station. After I came back to my senses, after I realized what I had done… Let's just say that it was a lucky break that we were able to escape without getting into a fight, because I'm not sure this thing would have put up with me."

Putting the lightsaber back in the chest he pulled out the third and final lightsaber that had been resting in there.

"And then we have the latest one to be put to rest. The one that belonged to the Battlemaster of the Jedi Order."

He rubbed his hands fondly over the saber, relishing in the feel of having it in his hands once more.

"You loved that saber."

"I did… I still do, but Marr and Master Satele were right. I have to be someone different to lead this Alliance, and that lightsaber was created for a man who no longer exists. So, you see I understand your pain of losing that connection to something you hold dear."

He held out the lightsaber for Kira to take it.

"We have to grow, we have to move on, and it's difficult. Sometimes it feels as if you're cutting off a piece of yourself, but I promise you that what grows to take its place will feel infinitely better than the last one."

Kira accepted the lightsaber from his outstretched hand. She rolled around it around in her hand.

"And then the cycle will continue and one day that lightsaber will reject you, but you'll accept it and create a new one. One that represents the new you. The Force is always in motion, always moving. It's never quiet, it never settles. It has a will, and it finds a way to push you onto the path it wants you to be on."

Kira nodded her head in understanding. "So why are you showing me this then?"

"When I created that lightsaber, I tried to bring my old crystal over from that other lightsaber." He pointed to the one sitting in the chest. "But like you, it rejected me. Wanted nothing to do with me anymore. I felt lost, felt that rejection and hated it, hated myself. But then one day, after one of the meetings with the council after our return from being MIA on the Emperor's space station, I was taking a walk on the grounds. I felt something calling out to me through the Force, so naturally I followed it."

He reached his hand out and motioned for Kira to give him back his old lightsaber. She did, and he proceeded to remove the casing and pulled out his old crystal. His blue crystal with a touch of black swirling through the center.

"And low and behold I found this thing peeking out of a rock. This crystal helped me to feel alright, to feel like someone understood the darkness that now flowed through me, to feel like I wasn't alone."

He placed the crystal in her hand and cupped her hand between his two.

"Why did you never tell me any of this?" she asked softly, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Because I didn't want to burden you with this. Because it was my mess, my fault we got captured, and it was my mistakes I had to live with."

Kal stopped and took a second before continuing.

"But mostly because I was afraid. Afraid of who you'd see me as. Afraid you wouldn't still see me as the person I used to be… the person you loved."

Kira lightly punched him in the shoulder with her free hand.

"I'm your wife! Of course, you could have told me these things. I want to share the load when you're feeling down, I want to help you bear your burdens. And I love you! I'll never stop loving you no matter what! I hoped you would have known that," she said with tears lightly streaming down her face.

"I do… I did. But you know me, I'm stubborn."

Kira chuckled lightly at that.

"Yes, you are," she said while wiping away her tears.

"I'd gladly take on the galaxy's problems if it meant you didn't have to. And now I think this crystal can help you. Help you to understand that darkness you feel, to understand that you're not alone, that a piece of me is always going to be with you to help you out."

"You're giving me your old crystal?" Tears started to form in her eyes once more.

"There's no one else I'd rather give it to."

Sniffling, Kira pulled her hand out from his, and wrapped her arms out around his neck to pull him into a hug.

"Thank you."

"It's my pleasure."

Kira pulled back from the hug and rushed over to plug the crystal into her new saber.

"Wait you're gonna want to-" but Kal's warning came too late as he heard a zap, and Kira let out an exasperated "Ouch!"

"Meditate and bond with the crystal," he finished.

"Right," she said shaking her hands. "Forgot."

Kira took the crystal in her hands and floated it up in front of her. She sat back down on the ground in a sieza position and began meditating once more.

She was sat in that position for a while. Her body was almost perfectly still, barely moving as she breathed. And the crystal slowly rotated in front of her face, but Kal was content to just sit and watch.

After a while he noticed the crystal had changed color. It still retained that black swirl, but now it was green.

Kal watched as the crystal slowly lowered into Kira's outstretched hand. She grabbed the crystal and went straight into putting it in her new lightsaber. This time when she tried to insert the crystal it went in without any fuss.

He watched her pick up her new lightsaber and ignite it. They both watched as the blades came to life. The black core was something Kal was very familiar with but that green around the perimeter was new.

He watched her swing it around and he could tell instantly that it was effortless for her. He was sure she was doing it without even having to think about her moves. As she put it away Kal could see the massive smile on her face.

"I take it you're happy wi-" He was stopped by Kira tackling him to the ground, her lips overlapping his.

She broke the kiss for a second so she could readjust and straddle his hips.

"Happy? I'm ecstatic."

She reached down to pull his shirt off.

"And I want to show you just how happy I am," she continued with a huge smile on her face.

"Well by all means," he said as he raised his arms over his head to help her out.

But for the most part, he was just glad to see Kira so happy. Just glad to see her acting like her old self. And Kal knew that when it came time, she'd be able to force the Emperor out of her head once more. That back door that the darkness left open in her mind wouldn't be staying open for much longer.

EARLIER

Kal walked into the command center looking for Lana. He saw her in her usual chair, multiple data pads scattered about before her on the table, with one in her hand.

"Hey, how'd the fight go?" he asked her.

She sat the datapad down on the table, rested her hands in her lap, and looked up to meet his gaze.

"It went well. It was a good fight between the two of us."

"Really? Cause word around the base is you gave her an unfathomable beatdown."

Lana rolled her eyes at the comment.

"I would never put it in those terms, but I suppose that is sort of close enough to the truth. The good news is I think I was able to figure out what's wrong with her?"

Kal's eyes opened wide at that revelation.

"That's great news. What was happening with her?"

"Her lightsaber seemed to be rejecting her. It's time for a new one, but I don't think she was willing to admit it. I've assembled a bunch of different parts and left them in crates in our room. I believe she's in there right now assembling her new one as we speak."

Kal nodded along.

"Good, that's good."

Lana raised a singular questioning eyebrow at him.

"Uh oh, I know that tone. You have something to tell me, and I'm not going to like it."

"Heh, I can't tell if it's scary or comforting that you know me so well."

Lana gave him a gentle smile.

"I would hope you find it endearing." She patted one of the chairs next to her. "Come, take a seat and tell me."

Kal took the seat next to her and turned it, so it was facing her.

"Well after you sedated me, thank you for that by the way," he said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," she said with no shame or hesitation. "But continue."

"Right. When I was asleep, I had visions. I was in Kira's dreams, I think. Maybe nightmares would be a more apropos word. We were in a black void, and it felt like I was trapped in someone else's body. There was this voice that came out of me, er- the body, and kept taunting her, trying to break her. So, you know, she ends up stabbing me."

"What!" Lana exclaimed.

Kal continued though ignoring her interruption.

"I'm sure after some of the things I've done you've had similar thoughts. But anyways the important part was right before the vision ended the voice changed. It was Valkorion's."

Lana crossed her arms and mumbled under breath.

"I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind."

She unfurled her arms and stood up straighter in her chair, raising one hand to her chin in a thinking posture.

"Valkorion though… hmm. You think he's in Kira?"

"That or he at least has a foothold into her mind. I haven't heard anything from him since he left me in Odessen's wilderness. He left saying he had to take care of other matters. Was this what he was referring to? A backup escape route or something in case I do manage to figure out how to get rid of him for good?"

"Well, if it is then that's a good sign. That means he's actually worried enough about what you might do to try and take action against it. As for Kira, I'm not sure. Do we need to look into removing him from both your bodies now?" she asked.

"I don't think so. His connection with me is different. He's apart of me now. With her though I think he's merely just projecting himself over to her. He's not actually there."

"I see, so her mental shielding is just down then. Sort of what happened with all those people on Ziost."

"Exactly. She's broken his hold on her before though. When we were on Darth Angral's ship he took control over her to try and kill me. She was able to fight and banish him from her mind permanently though… or at least I thought it was permanent."

"So, the question is what changed that."

"Right. My working theory is that the residual darkness still residing in Kira after her fall is creating a backdoor into her mind, one that is bypassing all her mental defenses."

"And so, the Emperor is just walking in unobstructed. Yes, that would make sense," she said nodding.

"So, what do you think we should do?" he asked looking for her input.

She took a minute to think before answering.

"Nothing-"

"Nothing?!" he stood and interrupted with.

"For now," she said putting a placating hand up. He sat back down in his chair. "Kira's not in the right state of mind to deal with this right now. She is still feeling the effects from her foray into the dark side. Once we get her back to her normal self, she'll have the power to kick him out again. Until then, telling her will only make matters worse."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Well, I don't believe anyone should ever be certain. You should always be open to the possibility that you might be wrong, but I do feel pretty confident about this."

Kal took a bit but eventually he nodded in acceptance.

"Okay, if you think that's what we should do, then we will. We don't tell her."

"Yet," she amended.

"Yet," he agreed.

Kal stood up from the chair. "I'm going to go check on her, see if I can start working on getting her back to her old self."

"Kal," Lana said, grabbing his hand as he started to turn away. She squeezed his hand. "She'll be alright."

Kal rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.

"I know… but thanks."

Lana flashed him a smile as he turned to go find Kira.

"Hey Commander. Come to watch the rematch of the century too?" Vette asked.

They were stood in the viewing stands around the training grounds. Lana and Kira were set to have a rematch, on Kira's insistence, after the last fight. The stands were packed with everyone wanting to see the two of them go head-to-head again.

Screams were sounding out as people yelled over each other, trying to get their bets placed down before the match. Hylo and her team were helping to organize the betting process.

"I'd be remiss if I ended up missing it again. Have your bets placed down?"

"That I do," she said with a smirk.

"So, who did you end up voting for this time?"

She waved a finger at him. "Unh unh, no spoilers. You'll just have to wait and see after the fight is done. What about you? Did you place a bet down?"

Kal gave out a heartly laugh.

"I've done a lot of insane stuff in my time, but betting on one over the other would just be plain suicidal."

Vette giggled with him.

"Yeah, I guess in your case that would probably be a dumb thing to do. Ooh there they are."

Kal followed Vette's outstretched finger and saw Kira and Lana taking the field. The two were donned in their normal combat armor. They each took to separate sides of the field, putting a fair distance between the two.

Lana stood there poised, regal, and stoic as she usually was. Her arms rested casually at her sides.

Kira was there too, arms at her side, looking every bit as comfortable as Lana. The people in the stands could tell something was different though. They didn't know what exactly but those that had bet against Kira got a worrying feeling in the pit of their stomach.

Kal knew what it was though. It was the subtle change of her walk. The invisible confidence she now exuded. The way you could tell she was comfortable in her own skin. Kal highly doubted Lana had missed the changes in Kira, but if she noticed she gave no sign of it.

The screams and shouts of bettors got even louder as those that were now worried tried to switch their bets at the last minute.

The crowd grew quieter as Kira and Lana bowed to each other. They took out their lightsabers and ignited them. The familiar purple glow illuminated Lana, while Kira was bathed in her own familiar green. Now however there was an unmissable streak of black coursing through the blade.

Kira took notice of Lana's eyes shifting towards the blade for a second, but her face remained impassive. They nodded to each other that they were ready to begin, and Lana struck out straight away.

She immediately assaulted Kira with a barrage of lighting from her off hand. Kira raised her lightsaber to block it. Absorbing the lightning, Kira took one of her hands off her blade, and force pushed the ground in front of Lana. Dirt and dust kicked up into the air obscuring Lana's vision.

Lana was forced to stop the lighting as dust flooded her eyes. She quickly wiped at them to clear her vision.

Meanwhile Kira hadn't been sitting idly by. She had been using the force to push up dust into the air all around the arena. Using the Force, she swirled it around Lana creating a circular smokescreen. She entered into the clouds of dust where the glow of her lightsaber was still visible. But then she deactivated it and the glow vanished.

"What?" Vette whispered in shock to Kal. "Where did she go?"

Kal didn't answer her but the grin on his face told her a lot.

Lana began shooting quick bolts of lightning into sections of the cloud. She wasn't trying to hit Kira with them, but the ambient illumination around the bolts allowed her to see through the clouds, and if Kira was standing nearby.

Quickly noticing that she couldn't seem to find Kira in the clouds, she charged the Force into her fist and initiated a ground pound. The resulting hit cracked the ground around her but sent an explosion out in all directions, blowing the dust away.

As the dust cleared, Lana, and the spectators, Vette included, looked around the arena to see if they could find Kira. However, no one was able to.

"You see, everyone always forgets to look up," Kal said to Vette.

Vette looked towards the sky and indeed saw Kira falling, lightsaber in hand, about to come down right on top of Lana.

Lana seemed to quickly figure this out too as she turned towards the sky, and upon seeing Kira, quickly raised her lightsaber with both hands to block. It was too late, however.

The force behind the blow was so hard it knocked straight through Lana's guard. Her blade was lowered to the ground and trapped underneath one of Kira's blades. Kira quickly elbowed her across the face. Spinning counterclockwise, she knocked the blade out of Lana's hand, and finished her spin with the blade on the back end of her saber a few inches from Lana's neck.

The arena was silent. The only noises were the quiet rolling of Lana's lightsaber on the ground, and the heavy breathing of both participants.

Lana could feel blood running from her nose as it passed over her lips. "Very tricky. I did not see that coming," she said somewhat quietly so only the two of them could hear. A small smile graced her face.

"I yield," she said louder so that the whole arena could hear.

Cheers and sobs erupted from the crowd as the match ended. The winners of the bet hollering loudly. Even then though, some of the losers were cheering just as loud for how thrilling the fight just was.

Kira put away her lightsaber and allowed a big smile to wash over her face.

"You were quick with that lightning in the beginning. I was so surprised you almost got me with it."

Lana force pulled her lightsaber back to her and reattached it to the side of her belt.

"I figured the element of surprise would be my best bet."

Kira ran a gloved finger over the tip of Lana's lip and wiped away some of the blood.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Wouldn't do for a Sith Lord to be shown bleeding now," she teased.

"Beaten by a Jedi? I'd have been laughed out of the Empire," she joked.

Their teasing and jests continued as they walked out of the arena and over to the medical ward.

Kal watched it all from the stands, and watched as Vette returned from the stand Hylo had set up with a pile of credits.

"Well Commander, if the two of those keep these fights up, I might be rich enough to retire soon," she said showing off her winnings.

"Ha, from what I know of you Vette I can't ever imagine you retiring. You'd get bored within a week."

"Yeah, you're probably right," she said putting the credits away. "Besides, what would you do without me?"

Kal just rolled his eyes at her good naturedly.

"So, hold on. You bet on Lana for the first fight, and when they go for a rematch, you switch who you bet on?" he asked her.

"Well, anyone like Kira who comes back for more after the beating they received the first time must have something up their sleeve."

She turned and looked out at the now desolate arena. The crowd was leaving the stands and returning back to work.

"Besides didn't you see her. You could tell something was different with her. There was this spark in her eyes, a fire in her soul. That wasn't there before."

"No, it wasn't," he responded fondly as he looked at the exit Kira and Lana had walked through.

AN: Ok so I know I said that the main story would be continuing next time and I truly meant it at the time. This document is even saved on my pc as Chapter 16: The Mandalorians, spoiler for title of next chapter lol, but then these little side bits I intended to have, before the main story continued, went on for way longer than I anticipated so here we are.

Also, in case anyone was freaking out at my absence again, nothing to worry about. I just kinda went really hard into reading a bunch of books, fanfiction and original fictional novels, and was doing that, and only that, for a bit.

This isn't sponsored in anyway but if you like darker fantasy novels I would check out the author Mike Truk on Amazon. He creates pretty good darker fantasy novels imo. Just a warning though that the books contain multi pairings/harem like this fanfiction. There are also explicit sex scenes so if that's not your thing then steer clear, but the actual overarching plot lines in all of his series are very interesting. I haven't finished all his series but so far, I think my favorite might be The Lost Reavers.

When I was trying to figure out what lightsaber to give to Kira, I was watching SWTORISTA's video on the top dualsabers in the game. She showed a few and I was like "yeah alright those are pretty nice, maybe I'll use those" and then she showed off Arn's Unshielded Dualsaber and I was like "it's perfect".

It's funny too because my current Jedi Knight, who is the character I use to play through KOTFE and KOTET with as many similar choices as I can make as the ones Kal makes in this story, uses Arn's Unshielded Lightsaber (the singular version) himself and I adore that lightsaber. So, when I saw it, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before.

Also, as a side note, I use the white-black crystal inside of it and when you zoom the camera out a bit your blade becomes a literal dark saber, combined with the animation that Arn's Unshielded Lightsaber naturally provides, and it is one of the coolest looking sabers in the game.

I feel like I could talk and ramble forever but I'm sure I've gone on far too long already and you guys are sick of hearing from me. Please leave a review if you're enjoying the series. I really do enjoy getting to read your comments.

Until the next one,

Magician

Published 10/1/2021