Chapter 41 - Duel of the Fates - Rewritten
Author's Note: No, this is not the end... of anything. *evil grin* Also, there are three more chapters left of this fic. :D
~ Amina Gila
Obi-Wan spins his lightsaber as he approaches Grievous, sensing Anakin and Ahsoka engaging Maul behind him while Sidious watches with a grin that puts the word wicked to shame. "General Kenobi, you are a bold one," sneers Grievous. "Surely you realize you are doomed."
"Your move," Obi-Wan retorts coolly.
"You fool," growls Grievous, as he throws off his cape. His arms split as he withdraws and activates four lightsabers. "I have been trained in your Jedi arts by Darth Sidious himself. Attack, Kenobi."
So be it. Obi-Wan spins his blade again, pointing towards Grievous with the hint of a smirk on his face. The droid general snarls, eyes narrowing to slits as he begins dramatically and rapidly spinning his lightsabers. They cut into the floor, causing sparks to fly, as he stalks closer. Obi-Wan slowly backs away from the seemingly crazed cyborg until they're standing in the middle of the room. If they move any further, they'll risk running into Maul, and Obi-Wan really doesn't want to get a lightsaber stuck through his spine. Even while in control of himself, Maul would do that, and now – well, he doesn't even want to know.
Obi-Wan lunges forward, swinging his lightsaber at the top two which Grievous doesn't have stuck in the floor. Grievous yanks the others free, spinning them towards him, so he leaps over the cyborg's head, attacking him from behind. Grievous whirls around, lightsabers flailing wildly as he tries to decapitate Obi-Wan. He draws on the Force, ducking skillfully and blocking the blows as they come. Grievous has had little training and seems to rely on the number of lightsabers which he possesses. He's not even Force sensitive, which means that he can't protect himself from Force-based attacks.
Wait. He can't protect himself, but he can also be more easily influenced by the Force… right? Reaching out Obi-Wan, nudges against the cyborg's mind, slamming against shields which shouldn't be so strong. Sidious. It would be helpful if Grievous could be freed to help them against Sidious, but Obi-Wan isn't planning to risk himself unnecessarily to free him. If they can knock him unconscious, that would be best, but he isn't going to count on it. As far as he knows, Grievous can't be knocked out like that. Well, there was that one time on Naboo when the Gungans electrocuted him, but that was only one time.
As the duel progresses, Obi-Wan finds himself being challenged, as he ducks, blocks, and evades, but he isn't known as the master of Soresu for nothing. Defense is his specialty, and if he can't defeat Grievous alone, he can hold him off until someone can help him. Obi-Wan feints to one side, and as a green lightsaber is turned to block him, he changes direction, slicing off one of Grievous' hands.
The cyborg stares in horror at his missing hand, before charging forward with a roar of rage, lightsabers flailing wildly in every direction, forcing Obi-Wan to make some rather unconventional moves to about them. Grievous is only dangerous because he has so many lightsabers and towers over most of his adversaries. Falling back to the defensive, Obi-Wan slowly backs away, parrying any strikes which come to close to his body. Part of his focus is turned on the cyborg's mind as he tries to shake loose the mind control.
They're caught in a saberlock, as Grievous tries to overpower him, failing when Obi-Wan cuts off a second hand, sending the lightsaber clattering to the ground. Raving mad, Grievous slashes at him with the two remaining lightsabers, a strike which Obi-Wan hastily blocks. Again, and again, the droid general attacks, raining blows towards his chest, legs, arms, any body part which is open, but Obi-Wan's blade is there every single time as he backs away.
Grievous pulls back for another strike, giving Obi-Wan the opening he was looking for. Drawing on the Force, he throws him backwards, sending him skidding across the floor. He doesn't realize until a second too late that it was a mistake. With one final snarl, Grievous turns and runs away on four of his limbs like the coward he is. Obi-Wan lunges after him, silently cursing his mistake. Anakin and Ahsoka are already busy with Maul, and they can't hold off him and Grievous at once.
When he fears he'll never stop him in time, electricity blasts from nearby, striking Grievous and sending him to the floor, growling. Dooku steps into view, blue lightsaber held in front of him, eyes tinged with yellow at he stares the cyborg down. Grievous stands up, anger radiating into the Force even more powerfully as he ignites his two lightsabers once more. Obi-Wan and Dooku approach him from opposite sides, caging him in between them.
They lunge in unison, blades crashing into Grievous'. After a few more slashes, the trio find themselves trapped in a saberlock, which ends when Grievous raises his left foot and unexpectedly grabs Obi-Wan's neck, tossing him to the side like a rag doll. He lands hard on the floor, breath knocked out of him from the impact. He stands back up, sprinting towards Grievous as Dooku hits him with another powerful blast of lightning. Grievous doesn't even stand a chance. He falls to the floor, convulsing.
Dooku and Obi-Wan exchange a look, each springing for the nearest holocron in unison and driving their blades into their cores. The Dark Side ripples, and the two holocrons explode, each throwing out a massive shockwave of power. Obi-Wan cushions his fall with the Force, rolling to his feet and glancing around the hall to check on the status. Sidious is standing up, expression twisted with anger. And the spell has been broken.
They still have a chance to stop Sidious, despite however much energy they might have expended in fighting each other.
**w**
Anakin and Ahsoka close in on Maul. From the stories Ahsoka has heard from Obi-Wan, she knows better than to underestimate the Sith Lord. If he could overpower Qui-Gon – though she never met him – Maul is a force to be reckoned with. She keeps her green lightsabers in front of her as they strike towards him as a team. Even though it must be unwieldy to use a lightsaber which requires a great deal of spinning, Maul is matching them blow for blow.
She desperately hopes it won't be hard to defeat or even incapacitate him. When she fought him on Serenno, she hardly had a chance to learn his style, but between her and Anakin, she remains confident that they will win. Maul's lightsaber moves between them with a practiced grace, keeping both of them from going fully on the offensive. She leaps back as he nearly takes off her arm, before blocking him from hitting an opening Anakin left.
As the duel progresses, Ahsoka quickly realizes that she's doing far more defending than attacking and is suddenly grateful for her many lessons in Form III. Trying to find a weakness in the blur of red swirling around Maul is almost impossible, even though she does manage to give his left arm a glancing blow. He's incredibly skilled at using the Force while fighting, something she learns all too well when she's tossed backwards for the third time. Somehow, Anakin seems to be holding him off far better.
Her frustration quickly leads to anger. If they don't defeat him, Sidious will… she doesn't even want to know. Try to mind-control Anakin like in her vision. The realization sends a thrill of terror through her. No. Please, no. Not Anakin. Not her brother. She doesn't want to see him die as a result of Sidious' machinations. On impulse, she reaches towards the Dark Side. She's gotten used to drawing on it over the past few weeks, though it still feels strange to embrace something she's shunned her entire life. Anakin isn't having nearly as hard of a time. She felt him grasp it when they first entered the Temple.
Maul picks up the pace of his attacks, backing away and tossing a random object or two at them as they push him onto the defensive. A surge in the Force is Ahsoka's only warning before she's flying through the air and slamming hard into a wall. She lands on the floor most ungracefully, shaking her head to clear her vision. Maul spins his lightsaber, stabbing viciously towards Anakin, hatred boiling, as the Sith makes a clear attempt to force him onto the defensive.
She pulls herself back to her feet, calling her lightsaber to her hands, igniting them as she leaps through the air, bringing them down hard on one of Maul's red blades. He doesn't even seem fazed, ducking gracefully between them and pushing Anakin backwards a few steps. Maul is showing no signs of tiring, and Ahsoka is becoming irritated. The fight is taking far too long, and she knows the real duel is still ahead of them. Sidious cackles in the background, probably at her increasing frustration.
Twisting his lightsaber in a surprise move, Maul manages to rip one of her lightsabers away, sending it skittering across the floor, before kicking Anakin backwards off his feet. She barely has time to register that the Zabrak is turning towards her before she's flying through the air again, slamming into a wall for the second time. Stars dance in her vision as she feels herself landing on the ground. She can't stop now. They have a duel to win.
She reaches for her lightsaber, fingers outstretched as it flies towards her, looking up in time to see Maul's lightsaber arching down towards her neck. In a millisecond, she knows she can't block it in time and scooting across the floor only gives her inches. Is this the end? She can't help but wonder if it is, fear searing through her. When Maul's blade is only inches from her body – it's so close she can feel the heat – he's ripped backwards by an invisible Force and lifted into the air, reaching towards his neck as he's Force choked.
Scrambling to her feet, Ahsoka sees Anakin standing there, anger pouring off him in waves as he mercilessly crushes the Sith's neck with the Force. He stalks closer as the Force screams a warning, twin explosions hurling them all off their feet – Ahsoka is so glad that she wasn't standing, or she would be worried about getting permanent brain damage from how much she keeps hitting her head.
Shaking herself, Ahsoka pulls herself upright, seeing everyone else in the room doing likewise. Obi-Wan and Dooku just destroyed two of the five holocrons, effectively breaking Sidious' mind-control. Good. Now they have a chance.
Anakin glances at Maul, and after seemingly ensuring that the Sith isn't planning to attack them again, he turns to her. She can feel the Dark Side clinging to him like a shroud, and if she could see his eyes, she knows they'll be glowing a Sithly yellow. "Are you alright?" he asks, concern coloring his tone.
"I'm fine," she assures him, calling her other lightsaber back to her hand as she turns towards Sidious. Now, it's time to face the real threat.
**w**
"You will pay for that!" roars Maul, igniting his lightsaber as he lunges across the room towards the Sith Master. Savage is right behind him.
Anakin wants to groan, though he probably shouldn't be surprised by this haphazard attack. He was as off balanced on Coruscant when Sidious was trying to exert his will on him. Mind-controlling someone, especially a trained Force sensitive, requires a major invasion of the person's mind, and it's a horrible experience which Anakin wouldn't wish on anyone. Still, as Maul and Sidious lock blades, Anakin won't leave them to fight alone.
He flips across the room, launching a carefully calculated attack on Sidious, Obi-Wan and Dooku right behind him. Grievous ignites lightsabers in his two remaining hands, stalking closer as he prepares to make his own attack on Sidious when he has a chance. Sidious is moving like a whirlwind, dancing out of the way of their attacks, though Maul is doing far better at pushing him than the rest of them, Anakin notes.
Sidious flips over the Zabrak brothers, striking towards Dooku and Obi-Wan who block him in the nick of time. They hold him off as Anakin and Ahsoka join the duel, seeking to find a weakness. A slow rage begins building when Anakin realizes that Sidious is treating Maul, Savage, and Grievous as irritating nuisances, focusing his attacks mainly on Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. He clearly, intends to kill them, and Anakin will not let that happen. They're his family. He has to protect them.
Anakin attacks Sidious even more fiercely, using a combination of both his lightsaber and the Force. The Sith seems unfazed, darting between and around them, one of his blades grazing Anakin's arm. He ignores the pain and keeps fighting, drawing on the Dark Side more strongly than ever before. He can feel it burning at him, as he throws Sidious across the room. Obi-Wan lunges, aiming his lightsaber for a killing blow, but Sidious pushes him backwards and starts Force choking him as he stands up.
Despite everything that's ever happened between them, that's Obi-Wan. Anakin's father figure, former master, best friend, brother even. He will never allow anyone to kill him. A snarl of rage escapes him as he raises his left hand, a bolt of lightning arching towards the Sith. Sidious throws Obi-Wan at Anakin – right in the path of the lightning – rolling out of the way and coming back to his feet in time to crash blades with Dooku, while off-handedly tossing Grievous backwards, and blocking a slash from Maul, who apparently decided that his anger at Sidious exceeds his anger at Obi-Wan; he could have killed Obi-Wan – he was right next to him – but he didn't.
Anakin can only stare – frozen with horror – at Obi-Wan as he lays on the floor, trying to recover after getting electrocuted. And it's Anakin's fault, because he did something stupid. He wasn't thinking clearly. Even the sound of clashing lightsabers behind him doesn't snap him out of his trance. Obi-Wan finally catches his gaze, giving him a tired, but affectionate, half-smile. "Stop staring at me," he chides through their bond, "I'm fine. It's not your fault that Sidious is a sadistic monster."
Obi-Wan rises, and they turn, side-by-side, to face Sidious once more. Grievous' lightsabers, one green and one blue, are pressing downwards on one of Sidious' red blades. The droid general growls as he throws all of his weight on the blade. Sidious drops to the floor, and for a second, Anakin thinks it's because he was overwhelmed. A moment later, he realizes that it was only a ploy to evade Ahsoka, because he flips upright, driving both blades into Grievous. The general's body falls to the floor, life rapidly fading.
Dooku hesitates only briefly before launching himself at Sidious again, and this time, Anakin and Obi-Wan charge in unison, lightsabers blazing as they try to push through Sidious' defenses. They've lost one ally already. Only the Force knows how many more will die before – if – Sidious is destroyed.
The Sith Lord seems to realize that he's losing ground, throwing a blast of the Force outwards, and sending everyone skidding to the floor. Without wasting a second, he lets lightning strike them. Anakin gasps as pain courses through his body. If one of them doesn't do something, they'll all die an inglorious death. He doesn't mind sacrificing himself, but a cold, hard rage boils inside him at the thought of Obi-Wan or Ahsoka falling to Sidious' hands.
Anakin struggles to push past the pain searing through him, gathering in the Dark Side and Force pushing Sidious as hard as he can. It certainly wasn't his best attack – the Sith deflected much of it – but it was enough to knock him off balance. Anakin calls his lightsaber, igniting it mid-air as he throws it at Sidious' body, striking him in the arm before he has a chance to deflect it. With a roar, Maul barrels straight at Sidious, slashing at him repeatedly as he forces him to back away. Anakin joins him.
Sidious isn't fighting as well as he was in the beginning probably, in part, because his right arm is injured, but that doesn't stop him from kicking Savage backwards when he charges as well. Savage hits the wall and goes down, stunned. Maul falters slightly upon seeing his brother be injured, but it's enough to give Sidious an opening which he takes full advantage of it, driving his lightsaber into Maul's chest.
Maul falls to the floor, life slowly fading, unable to survive being stabbed in his hearts. Sidious cackles manically, as Dooku and Obi-Wan meet his lightsaber on one side, while Ahsoka and Anakin hold him off on the other. Reaching out with the Force, Anakin calls Maul's lightsaber to him and ignites it into Sidious' back while he's in the middle of ducking under the blows raining down around him.
Even as Sidious collapses, dying, he hurls a final attack of lightning at them, though they deflect it easily with their lightsabers. Anakin feels the oddest pang of guilt at the realization that he killed Sidious. He did it. He killed the Sith Master, but… all he feels is remorse.
"I… still… win," Sidious rasps out, a demented grin on his face as his body goes slack, the life draining out of it.
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