Author´s note: Once again, I´d like to thank my reviewers for their kind words. Sorry this didn´t get posted sooner.

Anyway, here it is: The Big Bad Confrontation. Hope you like it. Read on . . .


The crude stairs cut into the rock led ever downwards, deeper into the darkness. With each step the palpable evil grew thicker, more oppressive.

And with each step, as her boiling anger slowly climbed for the peak, it felt less repulsive . . . and more seductive.

The stairs were cut into dark, uneven rock that made the tunnel look more like a cave than a carved structure. Either whoever had made the tomb had found an already existing cave and dug it out at its bottom, or consciously carved the stairwell into looking like a sinister cave. Because surely the idea that the rock itself had been corrupted was ridiculous.

Wasn´t it?

Occasionally Keena thought she´d heard vague whispers coming from the shadows as she kept on goin. The goosebumps covering her body grew. She felt cold. So very, very cold.

Finally the stairs ended and Keena found herself in the beginning of a huge hall. The crimson light didn´t reach far, leaving most of the area to the imagination, but she could sense the wide open space.

The crimson saber left her hand and flew out into a wide arc, briefly giving a clearer picture of the area. The roof, it seemed, was kept up by rock pillars, intricately decorated with strange carvings. Each one rose up into the darkness, with no end in sight. Various sculptures, tributes, and what seemed like frames to long-vanished tapestries littered the area.

Keena´s seething mind briefly reflected on why Dark Jedi had bothered with such decorations for their dead leader.

Maybe his disciples feared to displease him . . . even in his death.

The examination had only served to fulfill an impulse. She could sense very well where her fate awaited.

Keena let out a frosty breath in the deathly cold, lifeless air of the tomb.

Time for a reckoning. For everything that went wrong. For the broken dreams and deaths. For the misery.

Her thumb found the lightsaber´s off switch and plunged her into blackness.

Her feet only quavered slightly as she walked on in a straight line towards her objective.

She sensed the forechamber briefly give way for a hallway, before she entered the antechamber. It felt smaller than the previous one, but with the dark power of the place throbbing ever more painfully in her head it was hard to really tell.

An incendiary grenade had apparently gone off, or maybe several, in the battle that had clearly raged moments ago. Small fires strewn around the area gave a slight illumination.

This room was composed of a huge platform, rising up from an abyssal chasm, with only a six-foot wide bridge connecting the platform to the hallway.

Keena could sense what was waiting for her up ahead . . . that the situation was waiting for her, and could wait for a little longer.

She knelt down, and reached into her backpack. When she was finished she grimly trudged up the steps connecting the bridge to the platform, and surveyed the scene.

More pillars, illuminated by the plasma fires, and some marked by lightsaber slashes, rose into the air. Statues depicting figures and creatures Keena couldn´t name stood between each two, serving as an honor guard to anyone walking through.

Keena did, feeling the stone eyes on her as she walked by.

Every step brought the three glowing lights closer. Every step brought the conclusion of the bitter mockery her life had become closer.

This is it . . . she thought, . . . this is finally it. A bitter end to a bitter journey.

The former Padawan´s insides were being squeesed and wound, with an icicle piercing her heart and her legs going numb. It felt like all the years since she joined the war were building up to a terminal momentum, reaching a wretched climax.

Finally she stopped, and through the chaotic lightning storm that her mind had become, somehow remembered to draw her original lightsaber as well.

The three of them were standing in a triangle, with forty feet between each.

Revan and Eskon stood, the two red lightsabers and the single turquoise held at the ready, and had obviously gone a few rounds. Eskon´s black robe, and Revan´s cream colored one were both marked with minor lightsaber hits, although Revan´s seemed noticeably more damaged.

And beyond the two people Keena had considered her dearest friends stood the huge metal gate leading to the festering heart of this tainted place: The tomb of Hojir Karr.

Revan´s aura stood as a beacon in the sick atmosphere, while Eskon seemed to become one with it.

Eskon unleashed that hideous grin of his at her approach, while Revan´s eyes snapped open with a rigidly intense emotion that Keena couldn´t name. They had clearly both decided to wait for her, before resuming the battle.

Ah . . . of course they did. Of course it would land on me to decide the outcome of such an event. Of course my fall would be made complete.

Revan was the first to strike.

´´Keena! He´s drawing on the power of this place to disrupt Bastila´s Battle Meditation! The battle will be lost!´´

´´Yes Keena,´´ said Eskon, ´´the power! Feel it! It is right here for the taking for those with the strength and drive.´´

´´Don´t listen Keena! All the Dark Side does is destroy! Even its own followers!´´

´´The Dark Side exacts a toll, that is all.´´ He looked at her with some unidentifiable emotion in his yellow eyes. ´´Join me.´´ he said sweetly. ´´This is what I spared you life for: Take your revenge on Revan, claim the power of the Dark Side, and stand by my side as we carve our names into the face of this unworthy galaxy!´´ He spat the last words.

Keena´s thoughts turned to the woman who was to blame for the pain and doubt.

Revan looked at her, her face a desperate plea. ´´Think of the innocent lives. Think of the pointless destruction and death. You are a Jedi!´´

´´No, Keena. The Jedi sat on their hands as war marched on their doorsteps. The weak Republic couldn´t stem the Mandalorian tide. We went and fought the good fight. The Republic is rightfully ours.´´

´´You didn´t kill Mission,´´ Revan said, her soft voice desperately imploring. ´´You saved Juhani. You still care for innocent life. You can still return. Don´t throw that away on petty ambition. No matter what I´ve done to you, don´t let the galaxy suffer for it. Please! Not you too!´´

The knot in Keena´s bowels tightened with every word that was spoken. The everlasting tug-of-war was waged like never before. Anger. Peace. Light. Dark. Good. Evil.

Each of her hands went to her hair and grabbed a fistful, pulling on it painfully.

I´m going to rupture. They are going to tear me in half.

´´Don´t you want to be free of this torment Keena?´´ Eskon´s voice was sugar-sweet. Seductive. ´´Free of the doubts and pointless guilt? I have run my fingers through your memory; I know what you struggle with.´´ For a moment he flashed a ghost of the smile that had first caught her eye back on Coruscant. ´´Grasp the Dark Side fully, Keena, and you will be free.´´

Free . . .

´´You will be a slave,´´ said Revan. ´´The truth is in your heart, for you to see. If you´ll only look.´´

Keena looked up and let out a feral scream; The dam finally bursting from the flood of pent-up frustration.

´´Screw both of you! You . . . !´´ she screamed and stabbed an index finger at Revan, ´´ . . . are a two-timing, two-faced traitor! And you "Eskon" are not the man I knew! At best you´re his pathetic shadow! I´m not helping either one of you!´´

Revan´s face fell, while Eskon´s changed to mild disappointment.

The Sith Lord sighed. ´´Very well, Keena. Have it your way. You realise, of course, that I will not brook competition. And if you´re not with me . . . you´re against me.´´

He waved both hands at the ground between himself and Revan. In a massive release of vile energy the part of the platform she was standing on was smashed. The telekinetic wave that followed sent both Revan and the smashed rock over into the chasm.

Keena watched her disappear into the black abyss, and for a moment a glimmer of some emotion shone through the haze of rage and pain that had set over her mind. Then activated her lightsabers and turned towards the Dark Lord Eskon.

He let out a sick, lifeless chuckle. ´´One last sparring match, then?´´

He charged, lightsabers coming down in an overhead chop.

This time, however, Keena didn´t meet him with fear, but with anger.

Her sabers crossed in an X, catching the two blades. For a moment he pushed her arms back . . . but the fury and the pain opened her up to the Force like never before. And this place had so much of it . . .

She shoved him backwards with a savage grunt. He only looked surprised for a moment before re-assuming his assault, weaving his lightsabers into a dissying pattern.

He fell too . . . he turned his back on everything we stood for . . . he´s a sad mockery of a Jedi . . . just like . . .

She drowned her thoughts in a ferocious scream and wild, aggressive swings, as she met the Sith Lord with everything the last four years had ditched out to her.

The tainted Force all around flowed into her, lending her its putrid strength. She hacked viciously, not bothering with defense, the way of the Jedi, when mindless, screaming fury worked better.

Eskon held his ground.

Finally he calculated her next move and sidestepped, ducking a wide swing. Keena overbalanced, and just barely dodged a double chop at her back. She growled deep in her throat as an X was burned into the middle of her back.

Eskon pressed the attack, sending out furious stroke after furious stroke to keep her off balance.

She let herself be driven backwards, until her back was against a pillar. She pushed her foot against it to steady herself, and resumed her attacks.

Their four sabers locked together, just barely above the hilts, and each strained to overcome the other´s Force-enhanced strength.

Their faces were bathed in a crimson light, all but drowing out the bright blue one, and Keena spared a moment to look into Eskon´s horrible face.

All she saw there was a horrible mirror of herself. It drove her to push the lightsabers up and away with a growl.

Eskon´s grin faded a bit. As their arms were pushed out of the way he brought his forehead down in an intended headbutt.

Keena had been expecting it. She moved to the side without breaking the saber lock, just enough to avoid the attack, and sent her foot into the Sith Lord´s groin.

He grunted with pain and doubled over, and Keena made for a slash at his exposed neck.

Her back met the pillar, hard, and all the air was pressed out of her lungs as she realised she´d been neglecting her defense against Force powers.

Eskon backed away as she got to her feet, his walk only slightly awkward, and sent both his lightsabers spinning at her.

Keena jumped over the crimson missiles and charged the opponent who had so foolishly disarmed himself.

The sizeable rock he´d cut out of the pillar hit her in the back, propelling her onwards. Eskon´s fist speared into her stomach, stopping the flight.

She collapsed on the ground.

Keena only needed a moment to recover, but Eskon needed even less to send a huge Force wave at her, sending her rolling four dozen feet.

The blue lightsaber fell from her grasp and rolled off into the darkness, leaving her with only one as Eskon charged at her like a blaster bolt.

Fear mingled with the rage to make her fast enough to stay alive against the twin attacks.

With a grin of intended victory Eskon drove her backwards, towards the stairs.

She let him.

Finally her heel met the first step of the stairs . . . just as Eskon was able to bat aside her lightsaber with one hand, and make an upwards slash at her head with the other one.

She launched herself backwards, only receiving a slight nick on her right cheek, and glided down the stairs.

Keena landed awkwardly on the bridge, losing her balance.

Eskon shouted in victory as he jumped down, landing right in front of his defenseless opponent.

And he stepped on the mine Keena had picked up on J-3109.

The blast sent him flying into the air . . . and over the edge of the bridge. Eskon Mariar disappeared into the darkness.

Keena stared at the small, smoking crater. A single ruined lightsaber hilt landed in it. It seemed lika punctuation mark at the end of the whole thing.

She stood up on shaking legs and looked into the darkness; feeling the grief blacken her mind on top of the rage.

He´s gone . . . it´s all gone . . . there is nothing left that I love . . . nothing that wasn´t destroyed because of . . .

Her eyes snapped up to the platform.

Revan was standing at the top of the stairs, her expression, what Keena could see of it in the flickering firelight, one of pain and sadness.

´´Keena . . .´´ she started in a weak voice.

´´Revan?´´

Nothing left . . . nothing for me to do . . . except finish this!

Her face settling in a grim scowl, Keena turned towards the stairs, and struck a fighting pose with the Sith lightsaber.

Revan´s eyes snapped open, and she shook her head vehemently. ´´Keena, no!´´

Keena activated the crimson beam. ´´Yes.´´

She bolted up the stairs, charging at Revan with a powerful swing.

Revan hurriedly activated her turquoise beam and met Keena´s attack with a defensive stance.

´´No one here to bail you out this time, Revan!´´ Keena shouted as she brutally hammered away. ´´No Jedi! No Sith!´´

Revan dodged clear of a sideways swing and created some distance between the two, holding her saber at the ready.

´´Just you and me!´´ Keena spat.

´´Don´t do this Keena!´´ Revan pleaded. ´´Don´t go the same way I did!´´

´´Too late, Revan! It´s way past time for a reckoning!´´

She charged, saber meeting saber again and again. Revan let herself be driven backwards, parrying each hit, never striking back, even when Keena offered false opportunities to. Keena knew Revan was trying to wear her out, but knew it would be for nothing. She felt like she would never tire again; not in this place. Not with the Force flowing through her like never before.

For a moment she almost felt she heard a laughter, somewhere in the darkness.

She doesn´t want to strike back: Fine.

She brought the crimson beam down in an overhead chop, and when Revan predictably parried Keena pushed into it, letting the beams hiss against each other. Then she suddenly broke the saber lock. Revan´s unwillingness to push her saber forward caused her to lose balance. It was only for a moment, but it was all Keena needed to bring her foot up and kick the saber hilt out of her hands.

Before she could bring her blade down on her undefended opponent, Revan grabbed both of her wrists and held her.

For a few moments they stood there, matching their sheer physical strength against each other, as the deadly beam hummed between them.

´´Keena . . .´´ Revan grunted through the effort of holding back the blade, ´´. . . remember your teachings. The darkness of this place is magnifying your pain and anger. You must resist!´´

´´No, Revan.´´ Keena bit through her teeth.´´This has been coming for a long time.´´

In a lightning quick motion, Revan suddenly janked Keena´s arms upwards, allowing her to kick out at her knee. Keena lost her balance, and Revan tripped her to the ground, managing to twist her wrists enough for her lose the lightsaber.

Revan moved throw herself on top of her prone opponent, but Keena kicked her in the stomach, sending her stumbling backwards.

She sprang up. The lightsaber had rolled off into the darkness.

No matter. I don´t need one.

With an animalistic cry Keena tackled Revan to the ground.

She heard the smack of the back of Revan´s head meeting the stone floor, raised her fist and felt the savage joy of it impacting on her old tormentor´s face. Again. And again. And . . .

Her fist punched the stone floor. Revan had somehow twisted herself halfway out from under Keena, and hooked a leg around her torso.

Before Keena knew it Revan had worked her way on top of her back, and was pulling on one of her arms, going for an armlock.

Every drop of emotion Keena felt was brought forth, echoed off the power of this place, and sent into her arm.

She tossed Revan off like a rag.

They sprang to their feet simultaneously. Keena´s blow was blocked, her kick dodged. Her headbutt connected.

Revan staggered backwards, and Keena charged. Revan was ready, though, and turned her charge into a roll on the ground.

As Keena got to her feet Revan´s eyes found something. The lightsaber hilt flew into her grasp.

Out of the corner of her eye Keena spotted the Sith lightsaber she had dropped. She held her hand out and called out for it. It sailed into her grasp and activated.

Time to finish this!

She heard another snap-hiss and turned towards Revan. The battered and bloody woman was holding her lightsaber in a defensive stance. Her shoulders slumped, however, and her eyes radiated weariness.

´´Keena . . .´´ she said weakly, her voice slightly disturbed by her broken nose, ´´. . . for your own sake: Stop. You are going down the road from which there is almost no return. No matter how justified you feel, you must calm your anger. If you´ll just let me . . .´´

´´No, Revan!´´ Keena spat. ´´No more evasion, no more words, no more lies! It is way past time that justice was done! And I am the only one left with the right to judge you!´´

Revan stood, a turquoise figure in the choking darkness. She seemed to shrink as if something inside her had deflated. Her head hung as the lightsaber deactivated and fell from her grasp. She stood defenseless, and the knot inside Keena screamed at her to strike.

´´Then do it.´´ Revan said in a small voice.

Keena stood still, her arms trembling with built-up tension. Only sheer surprise kept her from striking the defenseless woman in front of her.

´´What!´´

Revan looked up and met her gaze with bone-weary eyes glittering with unshed tears

´´You´re right.´´ She barely seemed to have the strength to sqeeze out the words. ´´You are the only one capable of judging me. And . . . ,´´ her voice choked and almost broke. ´´And if nothing but my life will do . . . then do it.´´

Emotions flared through Keena so fast she couldn´t tell them apart.

Revan stood, arms hanging limply by her sides.

´´Just promise me . . . promise,´´ she pleaded ´´that you won´t fall to the Dark Side, like everyone else. Not you too.´´

The moments stretched impossibly long, into hours.

After all this . . . this is how I knew her . . . this is the Revan I loved and idolised.

´´What . . .´´ Keena´s voice went off without her urging. ´´What´s . . . what´s wrong with you?´´ she said in a low voice. ´´I am about to take your life and you are worrying about me? Why . . . why do you have to be so noble? Why can´t you be the monster?´´

Revan´s tired face offered no answer.

´´How can you fall and go back to being so pure . . . when I fell and am nothing?´´ Keena whispered. ´´Why . . .´´ her legs shook like they were made out of rubber. ´´Why couldn´t I be like you? I tried but it wasn´t any good.´´ Her mind opened to herself with terrible, shining clarity. ´´I knew I would . . . come after you.´´

´´What do you mean?´´ asked Revan in a small voice. Then something seemed to dawn in her eyes. ´´Keena . . . why did you really go to J-3109?´´

´´I . . .´´ Keena´s voice shook. There was no escaping from it any longer. She couldn´t lie to herself any more. ´´I marooned myself because I knew I would go after you. I-I-I k-knew I would switch the blame onto someone I could strike out against. I knew my anger would take control.´´

´´Switch it from where?´´

Yuthura was right. The "true source of my state" . . .

´´The one I have really blamed all this time:´´ The brutal self honesty stung. ´´Me.´´

The activated lightsaber sunk to hang by her side.

´´Revan . . . all this time . . . all my anger . . . has been directed at me. And while you have returned to the right path where you belong . . . all I´ve done is lie to myself.´´

Her knees gave in and she fell down on them. The lightsaber deactivated and rolled somewhere into the darkness.

´´I didn´t have the discipline to ignore the pain and death of war . . .´´ Keena sobbed. ´´It started long before you betrayed me. I was blind to your corruption because I was blind to mine . . . I ignored all the signs. . . I let Eskon down . . . I was always angry at myself . . .´´

She felt like a rag doll. The full weight of her scorn and anger couldn´t be diverted elsewhere any longer: It all fell down on her shoulders, and she felt like she would never get back up.

All she could do was bury her face in her hands and feel the shame deepen, when the lies she´d told herself were dragged into the light.

How could I let this happen? How could I be so blind? So stupid?

´´Keena . . .´´ Revan´s emotional voice felt out of place. She wanted to be left alone in the cold silence.

´´Go Revan . . .´´ Keena choked out through the rock in her throat. ´´Go back up. Leave me in the darkness.´´

She was vaguely aware of hands being placed on her shoulders.

´´Come with me Keena.´´ Revan said in a voice filled with emotion and what felt like desperate hope. ´´You can´t blame yourself for what happened.´´ She placed a hand under Keena´s chin and raised the woman´s head up to look her in the eyes.

´´We can help you. We can help you find peace . . . if you´ll let us.´´

Could I find peace?

´´Revan . . . I . . .´´

The world exploded into pain as the Force Storm hit them. Keena´s scream mixed with Revan´s as they were pushed along the ground. Keena´s hastily erected Force defenses lessened most of the effects, and she lay on her back gasping as the attack relented, wondering if the burnt smell was coming off herself, Revan, or both.

A figure emerged from the darkness as if it was made from it. The Sith lightsaber Keena had wielded flew into its grasp and activated, illuminating the figure in crimson light.

´´Good Keena,´´ Eskon growled. ´´Very good.´´ He took a few hobbling steps forward. His legs had been shredded in the explosion, and had slices of grey flesh hanging off the bones. His robes had been shredded and his body was covered in nasty injuries, further enhancing his grotesque appearance. And yet none of the wounds were bleeding.

´´Really . . . sneaky.´´ Before Keena´s eyes the flesh hanging off his legs started pulling itself back on, attaching itself back to the bones. ´´Just not good enough!´´

Revan was starting to crawl back to her feet when Eskon sent a massive Force wave at her. She flew into the darkness, and Keena heard her impact on a pillar.

´´I hated to interrupt that touching scene, but . . . well, no, actually that´s a lie. I loved to.´´ His wounds kept on closing, the tainted flesh stitching itself back together. ´´You could have had your name remembered and feared for ages to come . . . but you have chosen oblivion.´´ His yellow teeth revealed themselves in a hideous scowl as he pointed the saber beam at the waiting gate to Hojir Karr´s final resting place. ´´When I come out of that tomb the only name to endure will be mine. There will be nothing but ruin and grief, broken hopes and devestation, misery and fear! The galaxy will be plunged into a dark age, and all will know it was my work! And I´ll not let you get in my way! I . . . will . . . have . . . the . . . power!´´

Keena managed to rise to one knee, ignoring the agonized protests of her body. The emotional pain of listening to what had once been Eskon was far worse.

´´Eskon . . .´´ she croaked. ´´You have to stop.´´

His cackle sent shivers down her spine.

´´Please . . .´´ she pleaded. ´´The man you were . . .the real you . . . something like that cannot be fully extinguished.´´

She forced herself to rise, and stood shakily on legs that shook like branches in the wind.

´´You can return, Eskon.´´ Much to Keena´s surprise her words made her feel something she hadn´t felt in years: Conviction. ´´Anyone can return to the light . . . if they let themselves.´´

´´ "If I let myself" ?´´ He mocked bitterly.

He tore away the remains of his robe, revealing the hole in his chest, and the synthetic flesh used to fill it up.

´´My body is one with the technology of the Star Forge! The Dark Side sustains me, fills me! There is no choice in the matter . . . even if I desired one!´´

A tear stole down Keena´s recently scarred cheek. ´´Then . . . then there is only one thing to do.´´ she whispered painfully. ´´Only one way for me to help you . . .´´

A loud, hateful ´´Hah!´´ was his only reply as his body finished putting itself back together. He raised the lightsaber in a fighting stance.

A cold shiver of fear cut through her. Without the fury to draw upon, all she felt was weariness like never before.

Keena . . . came a voice in her head. Use this.

A lightsaber hilt flew out of the darkness, from the direction Revan had been thrown in.

Keena instinctually caught it and activated its turquiose beam.

You don´t need anger to fight . . . the Light Side has always been there for you. All you have to do is open up to it.

Eskon flexed his shoulders in preperation.

Let the Force flow through you.

Another realisation broke through at that point.

This is what I´m supposed to do . . . isn´t it? she thought to herself. This is why the Force wanted me off J-3109.

Keena felt a resignation settle on her then, in finally realising her place in the greater scheme.

Enough senseless fighting.

Eskon charged, a grey and red specter in the choking darkness.

For a moment that seemed suspended it time, Keena looked him in the eyes and thought back on their first meeting.

Then she moved with the Force, sidestepped the charge, and swung the lightsaber blade once.

Eskon fell to the floor, his severed head stopping a few feet away from its proper resting place.

Keena fell a moment later, collapsing on the floor like a rag. And she cried; For herself, for her friends, for Eskon, for the deaths and the losses, and for how wrong everything went.

She didn´t know how long she stayed there, how long she mourned good intentions gone horribly wrong, but after a long time she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Revan, injured and limping badly, had nevertheless recovered enough to walk.

´´There was nothing else you could have done.´´ she said, in a low, emotion-filled voice. ´´It was the only way to free him.´´

Keena just looked at her, empty-eyed.

´´Don´t you feel that? Above us?´´ Revan asked.

Keena looked at her with confusion for a moment. Then she did feel it: A huge blanket of Force power in the skies above the planet. It hadn´t been there a short while ago.

´´Bastila´s Battle Meditation.´´ Revan explained. ´´Eskon´s death has allowed her to focus it. The battle will be won soon.´´ She knelt down painfully and looked Keena earnestly in the eyes. It was that gentle, compassionate look Keena had gotten to know so well in the war.

´´You have bought victory for the Republic, and prevented a great catastrophe. Perhaps the greatest one ever.´´ Revan cupped Keena´s cheeks in her hands. ´´And you have turned your back on the Dark Side; No matter how bad you may feel now you have taken the first steps towards healing yourself.´´

Keena didn´t want to be consoled. She didn´t want to be told she was a hero, or how well she had done. But Revan´s words, nevertheless, made the ache a little better.

Revan stood up and held out her hand.

´´Let´s go home, Keena.´´

The sentence promted Keena´s hand to momentarily stroke the scar on her belly, acquired right after she had spoken the same words to Revan, those four years ago.

Maybe things can go right this time.

She snorted, but without bitterness.

´´You sure have a way with people.´´ she managed weakly.

Keena took the offered hand, and let Revan help her up.

Something about the former Sith Lord seemed to change. Like she wasn´t quite as weighed down, not quite as weary as she had been before.

´´Keena,´´ she said softly,´´ I think maybe there is hope for both of us.´´

Leaning on each other, the two Jedi walked up towards the surface.