It was her. At long last, it was her.
The two Jedi watched her warily across the thirty feet seperating them, hands close to their lightsabers. Confused.
´´Who are you?´´ Keena was vaguely aware of the Cathar asking. Keena didn´t care, she was insignificant in all this. She squeezed her deactivated lightsaber so hard it hurt.
Her vision narrowed, her emotions flared, all focused in a laser beam directed at Revan, who was looking at her with a blank expression. There was no way these two Jedi could miss it.
Still, they were clearly unsure what to make of her.
I could get her right now. I could clear the distance and chop her down. It´s got a chance . . .
(´´You killed those Sith.´´ came Juhani´s voice through the haze. ´´You are not one of them . . . what are you?´´)
Revan. The one who had betrayed her in the worst way. Who had damned her friends, nearly destroyed everything she´d cared for, and made her doubt that very everything.
(Juhani´s hand closed around her lightsaber hilt, but she didn´t draw it. Her yellow eyes were appraising her carefully, looking for a twitch of a muscle that would precede an attack.)
The one who had gotten Eskon mutilated and twisted him into a slave of the Dark Side. And of course nearly done the same to Keena.
Her burning gaze registered a change in Revan´s neutral expression. Something happened in the Sith Lord´s eyes.
´´I . . . I know you . . . don´t I?´´ her voice had a strangely brittle, unsure quality to it.
Juhani gave her friend a quick, concerned look.
´´From . . . before.´´ she whispered the last word. Her hand had moved away from her lightsaber and hung limp.
Her guard is down! I can kill her now!
Somewhere at the back of her mind a voice asked: What about the Cathar? She shushed it.
But she wouldn´t know why . . .
´´Yes, Revan, you know me.´´ her voice shook with anger, but she was able to make it intelligible.
´´I´m told you mostly remember faces and people . . .´´
She reached up a shaking hand and pulled back the hood on her cloak.
She growled through her teeth. ´´Do you . . . remember me?´´
Revan´s eyes went blank for a few moments. Then her jaw dropped, and her look changed to . . . what? Fear? Pain? Horror?
Juhani grabbed her upper arm, as if to support her, and interchanged her gaze from Revan to Keena.
´´Tana? Tana . . . what is it?´´ there was no mistaking the concern in her voice. It made Keena sick.
Revan´s lips moved silently and her eyes held an intense concentration, as if trying to remember a word.
´´Keena Moray.´´
Keena glanced behind her.
Bastila was standing about twenty feet behind her.
´´She followed Revan in the Mandalorian wars,´´ she said in the same soft, refined voice, but now with a slight edge. ´´I didn´t recognize you right away at the cantina. The Council assumed you were either lost or dead. Clearly you still live . . . but what has become of you?´´
There was no mistaking the Jedi´s meaning; she wasn´t enquiring about Keena´s whereabouts after the war.
Surrounded . . . three to one . . . three competent to one, unlike those Sith morons.
´´What brings you here?´´
Keena spared one hateful glare at "Tana".
´´An unpaid debt.´´
She pulled the Sith lightsaber out of her pocket and activated both. There was the hiss of Juhani and Bastila activating theirs simultaneously.
´´Which I will collect!´´
She stuck both lightsabers in the ground and spun in a half-circle. The world disappeared from view as Keena plunged into Brim´s sewer system.
Ankle-deep in disgusting muck, she picked one of the two directions available and ran.
She raged. She fumed. After four years she´s finally found her great enemy and was forced to run.
Keena both heard and sensed the three Jedi jumping down after her. Through the Force she directed her rage into her leg muscles, pushing them furiously onward. The filth of the sewer splashed all over her with each step. She didn´t care.
At first she gained a considerable lead, but the pursuers were obviously also skilled in drawing speed from the Force, and the gap stayed even.
Keena stopped. Despite the total darkness she could sense her surroundings had changed. The space was more open, the ceiling was higher and there was the sound of watery substances flowing through pipes. She had reached some sort of hub for this area´s sewer.
She reflected that the large pipe she´d traveled through had been sloping downwards for a while; she was deeper into the ground than when she´d started out. And she had no idea where to go. Her environment, however, finally offered her some options.
The seething anger had cooled down slightly; enough, at least, for some rational thought.
I got too angry to think, to be smart. Too angry to notice Bastila coming up behind me. And now I´m running around blindly in a sewer with three Jedi after me. Nice job, Keena. Real nice.
Despite the foul air she forced herself to take deep breaths and relax somewhat. With some semblance of calm restored she focused on her own Force aura and dulled it down, hopefully enough for Jedi to overlook it even in such close proximity.
Keena felt her way to a thick, vertical pipe and slid behind it. Cathar had excellent night vision, she remembered, but couldn´t see in total darkness. Still, they might have flashlights or light enhancing goggles.
As the hurried footsteps closed in all she could do was wait, and try not to let her anger regain control. There would be a time and a place.
Revan, Juhani and Bastila entered, their respective lightsabers illuminating them and their immediate surroundings. Keena risked a peek.
Bastila´s was yellow; a double dose of yellow, in fact. Keena had never seen a Jedi use one of the Sith-created weapons. Most likely the Masters had decided the Republic´s last, best hope needed extra combat capability. She scanned her surroundings calmly and carefully, but with a determined look.
Juhani´s was a curious shade of orange Keena had never seen before, bathing her exotic face in it´s strange light. Keena wasn´t sure what to make of her expression. She kept glancing at Revan, however, betraying concern.
And Revan . . . Keena´s blood heated right back up at the sight of her, but she forced herself to maintain her Force cloak. Revan had a turquoise saber, also a colour Keena had never seen before. And her expression . . . pained was the only word Keena could think of for it.
She ducked back behind the pipe. She couldn´t stand that look . . . Revan had no place to be miserable . . . yet.
The three Jedi slowly made their way into the area.
´´Keena . . .´´ Bastila said softly. ´´I don´t know what you are now, but you once were a Padawan of the Jedi order. You know we won´t harm you if you come out.´´
Yes, yes, I know. The Jedi are quite amazingly soft. The best example being the continued existance of the monster standing next to you.
Juhani. ´´I don´t know what has happened to you, but I could feel your anger up there. I know all about anger . . . and I know all too well where it leads. Please . . . come with us. The Jedi Council can help you.´´
I. Don´t. Want. Their. Help. Where were they during the war?
There was a long silence. Either they were waiting for a response or trying to sense her location.
Keena found herself wondering what would happen if they found her. These were skilled combatants, strong in the Force; she wouldn´t be able to fight them all. They wouldn´t strike the first blow, but would she really come with them quietly?
Then the moment she had been dreading came. Revan spoke up.
´´Keena . . .´´ The voice was not the one she´d heard those four years ago, the one she´d heard from the rooftop. It was shaky, vulnerable.
´´I . . . I don´t remember quite what happened those years ago. That entire period is even more vague than the rest of my memory . . . I don´t know what happened that got this whole mess started. What twisted Malak and me into Sith. And . . . everyone who could have told me is either dead or a Sith. But I do remember we were friends. And . . . and I don´t remember what I´ve done to you, but . . . I´m so sorry . . .´´
Keena bit into her own hand to keep from screaming at her.
´´You . . . you may be the only link to my past. The only one who has answers. Please . . . I can´t ever make up for what I´ve done . . .´´
Well, you´re absolutely right about that one!
´´ . . . but I plan to spend the rest of my life trying.´´
For a while the only sounds were the sounds of running water and the hum of lightsabers.
´´Well, Dark Lord Revan . . . that just isn´t good enough!´´ Keena´s loud voice echoed through the chamber.
She leaned her head back against the pipe, and closed her eyes.
´´We . . . all of us . . . we trusted you´´ she hissed bitterly. ´´We looked up to you. We abandoned our masters for you. We let you lead us through that bloody, pointless war. And when it was over and the Mandalorians were scattered we still trusted you, and followed you into the unknown!´´
Keena fought the bile in her throat and pushed her shaking voice onwards, finally, finally, being able to went her anger.
´´You were my friend. Hah, we all loved you! Probably just as much as your new friends do! I thought you exemplified the code of the Jedi. I thought you were someone I could look up to. And you betrayed us!´´
She risked a peek at the three. They had spread out and were looking in different directions. Revan´s back was turned.
´´She had fallen to the Dark Side,´´ said Juhani, ´´and now she once more walks in the light. She is not the person you knew anymore . . .´´
´´I´m not talking to you! Do you hear me Revan? Have you lost that magical tongue of yours? Or do my words come as a shock? Did you expect me to swallow your apology and give you a hug, and everything would be alright, like the Republic? The Council might have handed you a big fat Light Side pardon with a bow on it for being such a good Sith Lord, but I am not buying that!´´
´´She chose the light path on her own, Keena.´´ came Bastila´s voice. ´´What about you? What path have you chosen?´´
Why are they defending her? Why did the Republic accept her back? Why is everyone so damn forgiving? Well . . . because they have no personal debts with her, of course.
´´I chose nothing . . . except to place my trust in the monster you kept alive. Malak chose. Some of the other chose, or didn´t notice her corrupting them until it was too late. Me, I had forced upon me. On a Sith torture rack, much like yourself, I´m told. By her.´´
She risked another peek. Revan was standing with one hand dangling at her side, the other one resting on her forehead as her head hung.
She was in pain. Keena´s words were hurting her; badly. It felt sick, twisted and wonderful. Warming like a fevered infection. But she either couldn´t or wouldn´t stop her own venom.
´´And do you want to know the real joke "Tana"? If it hadn´t been for Eskon you would have twisted me all the way. He saved me, even though he could have gotten away. In the end he was a truer Jedi than any of us. And how was he rewarded? With your lapdog Malak mangling his body and you twisting his mind to the Dark Side, that´s how!´´
Juhani put her arm around Revan´s shoulders and whispered something in her ear.
´´So save your regrets! There is only one way to set things right, and me or Eskon are the only ones left to do it!´´
As her voice echoed through the chamber, muffling lesser sounds, Keena had started to carefully inspect her surroundings. It didn´t take long to find what she was looking for.
After a short silence Bastila spoke up again. ´´You have not fallen all the way Keena, I can see that. But your hatred of Revan will drag you down if you do not conquer it. Don´t you see? This anger is just what the old Revan tried to arouse in you. But Revan is gone . . . the only way you can defeat her is by leaving behind the memory of what she did.´´
´´Bastila speaks the truth´´ came Juhani´s heavily accented voice. ´´When it comes to the Dark Side she speaks from experience. We all do. Come with us´´ the Cathar implored softly.
´´Please listen to them.´´ said Revan shakily. ´´Ignore whatever I say if you want, but listen to them.´´
Silence was her only answer.
´´Please. If there is some hope for one of the Jedi who followed me, I . . .´´
Keena jumped out of her cover, between them and the entrance. The two lightsabers activated and left her hands, spinning into the air and slicing the support pillars and then back into her grasp.
She made it into the pipe just before debris rained down and sealed it
It wouldn´t take them long to get through, though, so Keena once again sprinted with the aid of the Force. After putting some distance between herself and them she had a moment of inspiration and once again cut a hole up to the surface . . . and then kept running until she came to the original one. If the new hole wouldn´t fool them it would at least give them a bit of pause.
Keena jumped up to the street, and then back up to the rooftop. Back where she´d started out.
She laughed bitterly.
Aha. Except now I´ve revealed myself and my intentions to three Jedi, who will of cource report back to the Council. Oh yeah, and probably those five Republic warships in orbit! And to top it all off I´m covered in filth. Great job, you idiot. How do you survive?
She pushed those thoughts down. She had spent the last year wallowing in self-loathing and misery. There would be time to pick up the thread later. Now was the time for action and clear thought.
Yes. Focus on getting the job done, and be smart about it. No more tantrums. And maybe she´d be able to ignore the mess she´d made.
They have no leads on how to find me; no place to look. I´ll just need to play things smart, keep an eye on them and find a way to get to her alone.
She ran along the dark rooftops, often making the short leaps between buildings without needing to draw upon the Force. When she finally figured she had made enough distance she dropped down into an empty alley.
Keena leaned against a wall and stared at her trembling hands in a sliver of light that made its way in from the street.
Revan. After all this time.
Her mind randomly cycled through various memories of the object of her hatred. Her leader. Her idol, and friend. Her enemy and betrayer. Torturer. Destroyer of her innocence. The ghost whose memory had haunted her even after "death". The one who had been given the Cross of Glory for temporarily stemming the tide of her own mess.
She actually tried to apologise. Tried to excuse herself and expect my forgiveness.
Her hands closed into tight fists, the skin stretching thin around her bony knuckles.
´´No Revan.´´ Keena muttered. ´´You are not going to talk your way out of this one. There is one person who hasn´t forgotten.´´
She closed an imaginary fist around her anger, bringing it under control. Storing it. There would be a time and a place for righteous fury.
The trembling stopped and Keena strode out into the street.
It wasn´t until the lights, and several eyes, hit her that she remembered her condition.
Right. Hygiene first. Then business. Can´t bloody well sneak up on someone while smelling like a sewer.
Some inner voice demanded to know what she would do then, after her precious revenge, with both the Sith and the Jedi after her.
She stamped it down hard as she entered a cheap clothing store.
It wouldn´t be revenge, anyway. It would be justice.
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Author´s note: Sorry, took a little longer to get this done than I expected. Also sorry if someone thought this would be THE confrontation between Keena and Tana/Revan. That´s for later. Heh, heh.
Thanks once again for the positive reviews, everyone, and I´ll try to get the next chapter done as soon as possible.
Hope you liked this chapter.
