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Chapter 30: The Dying Light

The escape from Korriban was simple enough. Revan used the distraction created by his companion's little toys to get to the Ebon Hawk where he calculated the coordinates of the Star Forge. Carth quickly brought the Ebon Hawk away from Korriban and they emerged less than a day later in view of the Star Forge.

Revan knew better and warned Carth of the planetary disruptor field too late. Carth's expert flying saved their collective asses from becoming road kill and Revan was soon tearing through the Rakatan wilderness towards the temple that stood at the center of the island they had crashed on.

Due to retaining his memories and his identity, Revan was able to bypass the temple seal and even gain access to the Temple summit sooner than they had thought. Only a few hours had passed since their crash and Canderous had reported that he and HK had found enough salvage to repair the Hawk. At the top of the Temple, Revan could sense the one he was here to find. Bastila.

But sensing anything else but the fact that she was there was difficult. Revan didn't know how it was possible, even with their bond and he was not about to wait to find out. Breaking into a sprint, Revan pulled ahead of Jolee and Juhani as the two Jedi called to him to wait. Revan ignored them and climbed the corridors, opening the sealed doorways with the Force as he ran onto the sunlit summit and saw Bastila, clad in obsidian robes staring off into the sky before she focused her cool, gray eyes on him. In that moment, Revan despaired. Bastila was lost.

She had resisted and failed. The Darkside had consumed her so much that she had attacked him in hatred for the weakness he represented to her. Revan had resisted almost instinctually, fighting fiercely against Bastila until she realized he would not be sundered and offered him a choice. To join the Sith as her Lord. To have whatever he wanted.

It was tempting. Revan breathed heavily as he held his crimson blade out defensively. Bastila had sliced his other in half the moment be drew it and he had been lucky her blade only grazed his hand. He had never fought her before without restraint and the reaction he had to her was frightening. Revan continued to circle Bastila warily, though she stood serenely with her blade deactivated, an expectant look on her features. She was waiting for her answer.

Revan felt the war within him. To forsake what he knew of the woman he had sworn his life to; to protect her or to battle her to the death. It was not an easy choice and Revan felt his strength waning as he began to speak.

"Bast.. I-"

Then his eyes connected with Jolee and Juhani. Neither Jedi had interfered, but they were there to serve as a reminder. Jolee's tale of the Darkside corrupting his wife, changing her. Juhani and her betrayal in her anger of her Master and the regret she felt. The pain Revan felt from her.

"I can't... I won't. This is not who you are, Bastila."

Revan's features shifted to a mask of calm, though he felt as if he were torn in two. Bastila looked surprised a moment before fury bubbled within her and she lunged for Revan, her crimson saberstaff coming to life. Revan blocked the attack with some difficulty and drove his elbow into Bastila's face, wincing as she fell to the ground.

"Fool!"

The former Padawan hissed, rising to her knees as she glared hatefully towards Revan. Then Revan saw the conflict within her. Before there had been only the malicious void of the Darkside but now... Revan thought he saw some hope in her cool gray eyes.

"Join me, Revan. You deserve to be the Lord of the Sith! Imagine what you could do with the Star Forge! Together we can destroy Malak and shape the galaxy into what we want it to be... I would not betray you..."

The bond had been opened when she spoke and Revan felt himself grow sickened at what he saw. Closing his eyes, Revan lowered his head.

"I know..."
A slow smile began to form on Bastila's lips before Revan finished.

"I would betray you... as I did Malak... as I have everyone..."

Revan opened his eyes to see Bastila rising slowly, a look of scorn on her features. He had struck a nerve.

"You used to be Revan, Lord of the Sith... but look at you now... You are nothing but a pawn of the Jedi, a shadow of your former self. You are the one living a lie..."

Anger burned in Revan's eyes as he spoke in a snarl.

"You are not yourself! Look at what you are doing! The Bastila I knew... that I loved would never ask me what you have."

She had winced when he had said love.

"Love is a weakness..."

Bastila chanted, her eyes regaining their cool composure as she sneered.

"So be it, fool."

With that, Bastila sent a wave of Force energy outward, sending Juhani and Jolee on their backs though Revan absorbed the attack and watched her flee to her fighter.

"A Sith never flees battle. A Sith has no fear..."

Revan sighed, shaking his head as Bastila's fighter rose and ascended towards the Star Forge. Using the Force, Revan deactivated the planetary disruptor field and the Force-field protecting the Rakatan temple as he turned to Juhani and Jolee.

"The Republic fleet will be here any moment. Malak won't bother bombing this world, there isn't enough time."

And there wasn't. The Republic fleet arrived on the edge of the system before Revan had returned to the Ebon Hawk. Telling the others of Bastila's fall, Revan made his way to the cockpit, listening to Carth speak with Master Vandar and the Republic's Admiral Dodonna. The Jedi Master avoided using Revan's name and instead decided the best course of action would be to attack the Sith fleet as a diversion while the Jedi boarded the Star Forge and tried to stop Malak and Bastila's Battle Meditation.

Pain echoed through the Force as Malak punished Bastila for failing to kill Revan. Through their weak bond, Revan sensed Malak's doubt as to Bastila's loyalty and was baffled as to why he left her alive. Reaching for the bond he shared with Bastila, Revan bombarded the Padawan with his thoughts and feelings, hoping she would fight the darkness within her or that his efforts would at least distract her.

Darth Malak waited within the Command deck of the Star Forge, watching as Bastila Shan returned to her Battle Meditation. The Dark Lord of the Sith could tell she was distracted by Revan's proximity. Something he had been hoping would be equally distracting to Revan. The Star Forge's defenses and her small army of Sith troops and Dark Jedi should have been enough to stop Revan. It was not. Revan, alone, fought his way through the army, not restraining his use of the Force as he sent Dark Jedi and Sith soldier alike to their graves.

Malak was just beginning to wonder where all that power was coming from when he felt Revan grow even closer. Much closer than he was ready for. Summoning Bastila, Malak made it clear that her choice was to either kill Revan or die and retreated to the observation platform of the Star Forge to oversee his final surprise for his old friend.

Juhani and Jolee deflected the blasterfire from nearly a dozen Sith troopers that had attempted to ambush the Ebon Hawk crew, Carth made short work of them with the Hawk's lower turret while Canderous sat atop the freighter, a modified blasterrifle in his hands as he gazed through the sniperscope, searching for his next target. The unfortunate Sith apprentice was not fast enough to block the shot that connected with his head and Canderous smirked, turning the weapon on the endless stream of Sith troopers pouring into the hangar.

"This is what I live for!"
The Mandalorian challenged, pondering pulling his vibroblades and joining the fray.

Revan entered the command deck of the Star Forge, staring a moment at the figure kneeling before the massive hologram of the battle outside. Bastila slowly opened her eyes and stood, calmly walking until she was just out of striking distance of Revan.

"Revan... I knew you'd come for me..."

The former Dark Lord of the Sith gave Bastila an incredulous look.

"You are standing between me and sweet, sweet revenge Bastila."

Revan snarled, his eyes flashing golden as he tightened his grip on his saber.

"Is that all that matters to you anymore? Revenge?"

The former Padawan asked calmly. Revan smirked. The point had gotten across.

"It seems all you care for anymore, Bast."

There was a subtle, barely noticeable wince as the former Padawan rested her hands on her hips and glared.

"Speak all the foolishness you want. You are nothing but a tool for the Jedi. What will stop them from raping your mind again? Guilt? It did nothing to stay their hand before. How can you follow those who would see you dead?"

Revan rose a brow, Bastila was being pretty damned reasonable for some reason while not seeing reason at all.

"And Malak wouldn't kill you once he has no more need of your Battle Meditation? He won't kill you once you have served your purpose? You say the Jedi used us... you for your Battle Meditation but what are the Sith doing that the Jedi did not? And didn't you use your Battle Meditation to help the Republic? To save what you once believed in?"

Bastila narrowed her eyes further, no longer listening.

"You may have had the upper hand on Rakata but here the Darkside is strongest and will give me the strength to be rid of you!"
The saberstaff snapped to life as the Padawan lunged for Revan. Revan did not have time to block the attack with his still deactivated saber and rolled to the side, continuing the motion as Bastila followed him with her staff, the scarlet blade tearing through the space he was an instant before.

Crimson met crimson as Revan activated his weapon, saving the Force for the true battle that would come shortly after this one. While Bastila was strong in the Force, her strength lay in her Battle Meditation and in the middle of the battle, Revan knew she could not call on the concentration needed for that skill. One end of Bastila's staff grazed Revan, but he ignored it with the seasoned skills of a veteran warrior, ignoring the reopened gash in his side.
Bastila paused her assault to call on the Force and sent a pulse of blue-white lightning towards Revan. The former Dark Lord switched his saber to one hand, using his left to block and absorb the attack. Bastila took that momentary distraction to attack, lunging for Revan. Revan swung his saber downward, driving his knee into Bastila's abdomen and using the Force to push her back several yards.

"Even as you grow weaker, the Star Forge fuels my power!"
Bastila chanted, drawing energy from the Star Forge. Revan breathed heavily as he pressed his hand against the wound Bastila had given him at the beginning of their duel.

"Not serious..."

Revan quickly dismissed the wound and the pain, narrowing his eyes as Bastila slowly circled him.

"Then finish this, since you have so much more power."

Revan hissed, sarcasm bubbling beneath his angry words. Bastila obliged him, using the Force to grasp his throat. Revan quickly blocked the attack, but not before Bastila had used the distraction to attack. Revan cursed, summoning the burning power within him as he used the Force to throw himself back. Bastila followed with Force-enhanced speed, swiping downward with her saberstaff and continuing in a spin as she brought the other end into Revan's chest.

Revan continued his backward retreat, grunting as pain shot through his chest. A cool smile played on Bastila's face as she paused, giving him the time he needed to prepare for the next attack.

"You are growing weary..."

Bastila taunted, drawing even more power from the Star Forge. Revan held his left hand over his chest, struggling to remain conscious from the pain shooting through him. A distant memory of his violent childhood and a Mandalorian sergeant urging him to forget the pain in a broken leg brought him back to reality as he saw that Bastila was not taunting him, but fighting with herself. She had the chance to kill him many times, she was giving him a chance. Most of the Sith Lords Revan knew didn't bother with threats. They just killed.

"It is not my strength that is faltering... it is my will."

Revan spat, pushing the pain to the back of his mind. Bastila frowned, uncertainty flashing in her eyes a moment before she sneered.

"What is this trickery?"

Revan knew he couldn't save his strength for the fight with Malak anymore. He needed to knock some sense into Bastila.

"I can't fight you and Malak both, Bast... Malak is stronger than he was... I can feel it..."

Bastila scoffed.

"Of course he is more powerful than you, he embraces his destiny while you turn your back on yours."

Revan stared at the crimson blade in his hands. Shaking his head, Revan tossed the weapon aside.
"I won't do it... If this is to be a battle to the death... then I will have it be mine..."

Revan turned his eyes back to Bastila's. "I can't fight you anymore... I won't betray you your life..."

The Sith Master across from him stood, motionless, her eyes narrow slits as she probed him for deceit. Anything that would expose his words as a lie.
"Liar!"
Bastila hissed, lunging for Revan. Revan sighed, staring at the crimson blade approaching his stomach. Nothing mattered anymore. Not his war with the Vong, not the war he would have fought against the True Sith. Not even his revenge on Malak. He had done all he had to protect Bastila and in the end he could not protect her from himself. This was the only way it could all end. Revan felt a sharp pain as the blade struck his abdomen. Closing his eyes, the former Dark Lord of the Sith released his final breath and collapsed to his knees, while the Sith Lord that struck him down stared at him with a mixture of shock and horror.

"None of it matters anymore..."