The Leviathan
Deedeedeeeeee doo dooo dooooo…
Rated PG
Disclaimer: YOUR MOTHER IS A DISCLAIMER.
The Leviathan
In no time they had reached the elevator, and Carth lagged behind, feeling broken, downtrodden, and hollow all at once. He wasn't sure that he could feel hollow while feeling downtrodden, but somehow it was possible. He had decided to let his anger run ahead of him while they went, and to leave his pain and rational thinking behind somewhere in his feet, as far away from his blasters and his mind as possible. Bastila kept shooting him reprimanding looks, but he ignored her. No one was going to bother with him for today. No one.
Revan's comm. beeped. She paused to flick it on. "Report." Her voice was quiet and isolated.
"It's Canderous," came a gruff voice on the other side. Carth felt a slight sliver of amusement. The Mandalorian's voice was husky and breathless with excitement; apparently they had gotten their hands dirty getting onto the Ebon Hawk. Indeed, Canderous confirmed it. "We took care of the guards. We're inside the Ebon Hawk and all systems are go."
Very faintly in the background could be heard Mission's jubilant cry of: "Yay me!"
Canderous continued. "As soon as you guys join us we can get out of here."
"Got you," Revan replied. "We'll be down soon."
There was a very loud roar of static as Zaalbar tried to relay a message. Canderous could be heard grumbling unhappily and the comm. clicked off.
Boy, was the crew ever going to get a shock once they got on the ship… provided Carth didn't find the need to kill Revan in that time. The thought made him feel sick, but he kept reminding himself that she was Revan, and that she was evil, and that she deserved no affection or sympathy from him ever again.
They walked down the halls in silence. The ship was generally deserted, but they still ran into a room full of lagging, inattentive Sith, and another room with some Dark Jedi that Bastila and Revan, with some newly-learned battle tactics, quickly struck down.
The group continued on. Their footsteps echoed noisily, emptily, and it set Carth to be ill-at-ease. He couldn't tell if someone was following them or not. Bastila, too, seemed to be jittery, but he guessed it was because she could feel Malak approaching. Revan, however, seemed to be calm, collected, and ready to be off this ship.
"What's that red up ahead?" Revan asked, pointing.
"Blast doors," Carth said, snapping back to the present. "Careful. They tend to close more than I'd like." He remembered once how he, as a brand new rookie, had been squashed by a closing blast door. It wasn't his favorite memory, but then again he didn't have many favorite memories.
Revan nodded and stepped up the door, it whooshed open obediently and the group stepped inside before it could close again. They were greeted by a frightening amount of Sith. Screaming, Revan rushed forward and took out the first one with a single, smooth strike to the head. From then on, the battle wasn't so easy. Carth and Bastila had to stop to tend their wounds for a while before they could continue on. These vast waves of enemies were really taking their toll. They had been whittled down to five medpacks, one of which burst when Bastila sat on it accidentally.
"We must go on," Revan said at last, after picking apart the last corpse for credits and supplies. "Come on. The other door is locked. We've got another blast door. Think we can handle it?" She shot Carth a small smile that he did not return. Now was not the time to poke fun.
Sighing, she stepped up to this blast door. It, too, opened, and the crew stepped inside. They ran down a hallway that led to a complex web of blast doors.
"What the hell is with these doors?" Revan asked aloud as she walked forward.
Bastila sighed.
But then the door before them opened and in strode Dark Malak. Carth jumped, instinctively drawing his blaster and fumbling with it. He aimed and began shooting, but before he could realize it, he had been knocked down. He jumped back up immediately, but didn't shoot anymore. Malak was saying something important.
"me now… Besides, I had to see for myself if it was true. Even now I can hardly believe my eyes… tell me, why did the Jedi spare you? Is it vengeance you seek at this reunion?"
Carth blinked, looking to Bastila, who looked positively petrified. Malak wasn't speaking to her. He was speaking to Revan.
Revan, too, looked confused and upset. "Reunion? What are you talking about?" she asked uncertainly, playing with her lightsaber cautiously.
Malak laughed. "You mean you don't know? All this time and you still haven't figured it out?" He laughed again, clearly amused by this. Bastila blanched and Revan bit her lip, frowning. Malak continued in a slow, maniacal voice, taunting her. "I wonder how long you would have stayed blind to the truth. Surely some of what you once were must have surfaced by now. Event eh combined power of the Jedi Council couldn't keep your true identity buried forever, could it?"
Carth watched in horror as Malak waved his arms and Revan went still. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her mouth hung open. Occasionally she muttered things like… "Path" and "enemy" and "side." Carth almost reached out and touched her but decided against it. She was Revan. She was evil. She deserved no affection or sympathy from him… not anymore. Eventually she snapped out of it, her face flushed and tears welling up in her eyes.
Malak seemed to be very pleased. "You cannot hide from what you once were, Revan! Recognize that you were once the Dark Lord – and know that I have taken your place!"
Revan was blanched and shaking. "No…" she whispered in a wavering voice, "this is some type of trick! A Sith lie!"
Darth Malak seemed to be having fun toying with her. Carth was too confused and upset to say anything. This wasn't how things were supposed to work out. Why wasn't anyone attacking Malak? Why was he telling her this?
"You do not remember, Revan?" Malak drawled. "The Jedi set a trap. They lured us into battle against a small Republic fleet. During the attack a team of Jedi knights boarded your ship. The Jedi strike team captured you and the Council used the Force to reprogram your mind; they wiped away your identity and turned you against your won followers." He tapped his jaw pointedly, and though his eyes gleamed with malicious pleasure, they also burned with anger and hate.
Revan shook her head, turning a little green. "No, I don't believe you, Malak!" she cried. "I DON'T! I DON'T!" Her voice had turned into a shrill shout and she stamped her foot like a small child. Carth had never seen her like this. Concern stabbed at his heart but he banished it. She was Revan. She was evil. She deserved no attention or sympathy from him ever again. He had to remember that. He had to drill it into his own mind.
"You must have seen flashes of your old life in your dreams, Revan; memories bubbling up to the surface?" Malak continued, and if he had had a mouth, Carth was sure it would have been smiling. There was some strong voodoo between these two. "Surely you remember the battle in which you were captured?"
This had some hidden meaning. Carth was sure of it. But you could never tell with Sith. Poor Revan looked like she was about to burst.
"Why wouldn't the Jedi simply kill me?" she moaned at last. Bastila's eyes flashed. Apparently such despairing thoughts were not becoming for a Jedi.
Malak shot Bastila a confident look before he spoke again with a little more conviction. "The Jedi are fools; they do not believe in executing prisoners. Originally I assumed you had died in the battle. Imagine my surprise when I found out you were still alive, Revan." He looked up and down, apparently making sure it really was her.
Revan seemed to be coming to terms with this news at last. Though she spoke in such a way Carth could tell she wished to vomit, she remained steady. "How did they capture someone as powerful as Revan… I… I-I mean… me?"
Malak clapped once with joy. "I helped them, Revan. I always knew that one day the title of Dark Lord would be mine! When the Jedi strike team boarded your vessel I saw my day had come. I ordered my own ships to fire on your bridge. I thought I would destroy all my enemies with a single glorious victory! I never dreamed the Jedi would take you alive from the wreckage." His jubilant banter suddenly turned bitter as he looked her over again… at her warm skin… her heaving chest… she was still alive, and the thought brought him pain.
Revan bit her lip so hard a drop of blood spurt forth. She licked it away and looked to Bastila, who had shrunken into the corner, covering her head in shame. "Bastila, is this true?" Revan whispered. Carth gritted his teeth. She is Revan. She is evil. She deserves no affection or sympathy from me ever again. Remember what she's done to you. She's a monster…
Bastila unwound herself from her fetal position, reluctantly lifting her head before she stared at Revan directly and firmly, her shoulders set. "It's true. I was part of the team sent to capture Revan… to capture you. When Malak fired on the ship you were badly injured. We thought you were dead." She took a deep breath. "Your mind was destroyed, but I used the Force to preserve the flicker of life in your body. I brought you back to the Jedi Council. They were the ones who healed your damaged mind." She looked away at this bailing statement, ashamed.
Revan looked to be sincerely trying to sort this out. "But the memories I have… where did they come from?"
Bastila looked back up, opening her mouth to speak, but Malak would not be ignored.
"The Jedi Council didn't restore your wounded mind, Revan!" he shouted. "They merely programmed it with a new identity – one loyal to the Republic! They tried to make you their slave!" Was this a hint of jealousy? To be outdone by the Council?
Revan actually snorted at this. She turned back to Bastila and rested a hand on her shaking shoulder. "I understand, Bastila," she murmured. "You had no other choice."
Bastila looked up at her weakly, and nodded, her eyes shining with tears.
Malak burst out again. "Forgiveness, Revan? You are weak; I was right to betray you." Some of his past childlike speech seeped through then. Carth's curiosity was aroused despite himself.
Revan's face was twisted into a snarl. Apparently she had had enough for today, but Malak continued on.
"You are not fit to rule the Sith! A small part of me always regretted betraying you…" – he stammered for a moment before he caught his words, redeeming himself – "from afar. I always knew there was someone who would think I acted out of fear, that I did not want to face you." He said these words reluctantly, for once, and he seemed to be breaking down. He spoke quickly now, in a panic, trying to regain himself. "But now fate has given me a second chance to prove myself!" He paused, his eyes growing wide. Carth could read that look – Malak, inside, was saying quite simply, damn. Carth knew all about that sinking feeling. He experienced it all the time around his wife… and Revan… but Revan was evil. All the same, Carth could relate. But Malak continued on, looking more and more upset. He thought up something right on the spot, forming his words into one single idea: "Once I defeat you in combat no one will question my claim to the Sith throne; my triumph will be complete!"
Revan glanced once at Bastila, who nodded.
"It will not be anger," she whispered. "Just this once. Use the light."
Revan's face turned feral as she looked to Malak. She grinned a horrible, bloodthirsty grin, giving her lightsaber a twirl. A cackle rose in her throat. "Your power is no match for the light!" Carth knew that by 'the light' she was referring to herself.
Malak looked at Carth and Bastila once, and a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. "The Jedi Council were foolish to let you live," he stammered. "I won't make the same mistake. We shall finish this alone in the ancient Sith tradition: master versus apprentice, as it was meant to be!"
"Coward," Carth croaked, and his muscles went rigid and taut. It was between the Dark Lords now. For the first time in a long time, Carth was of no use.
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Author's Notes: Typed up quick for you before I go on a trip for a week or so. No progress until then. Hope it's alright… eh.
SilverSentinal21 – Reviews don't mean anything as long as you're having fun.
Amme Moto – Where did you get your username? It sounds interesting. Thank you for your support, all the same.
Prisoner 34601 – Wow. That's really good. Thank you so much for your comments. It helps. Did I do any better on this one? Heh. I doubt it. XD;;
Cricket – Can I change it? No, not really. ;)
Revan's Lost Soul – If I could understand what you meant by that, I would thank you or something like that. Excuse me if I sound rude it's just… your post went all over and I couldn't grasp much.