Last time: Viran came from a different timeline to get the trio and go face Dracul.
Now: The final battle begins.
Chapter 2- The Trio vs Dracul
After another few moments of walking through the void, the three Jedi and Future Viran approached a gate that showed what looked to be late evening on Coruscant. In front of the gate stood a tall dark cloaked and helmeted figure, Dracul. He turned to look at them.
"You are quite persistent." He said, his voice laced with anger. "But you cannot stop me. This is a plan that has been unfolding for more than three and a half millennia, you are nothing but annoying pests."
"We can and we will stop you, Dracul," Older Viran shouted back. "It's time for your reign of terror to end." There was bitterness and bile in his voice as he called out the Sith Lord.
"Ah, so you were the annoying presence that hung at the edges of this void during my previous time here." Dracul said, looking to Older Viran. "It is a shame I have no care for who you are." He said, igniting his red saber.
Older Viran let out a possessed chuckle. "Oh you know exactly who I am. And I'll make sure you never forget it." He then raised his blaster, pointing it directly at the Dark Lords head. His trigger finger activated and he fired a singular blast at Dracul.
The blast flew true towards its intended target.
And Dracul deflected it, with a quick sweep of his lightsaber. All four of the Jedi looked on with a second of shock. Their connection to the Force was so tenuous that they could not even perform that simple trick, but Dracul apparently still had at least some command of the Force in this place.
Oppie ignited his sabers with his familiar double flourish to loosen his wrists, and charged forward. Sasha activated her own blade, flourished it in her hand, before following after Oppie. Older Viran continued to fire another few shots between the two leading Jedi. Dracul once again was able to deflect them, sending them flying in different directions. At least two of them flew towards Sasha and Oppie. Due to their lack of connection with the Force right now, they barely brought their sabers up in time to deflect them away. And because their reflexes were just a tad slower than normal, those blasts zipped by them a little too closely. Viran turned to his older self as he activated his own blade.
"We've got this, old man," Viran said. "You protect the gate." Viran then charged forward after the others.
"Who the hell are you calling old?" Older Viran yelled, insulted at his younger self. "I'm not old." He grumbled.
Oppie stepped in, swinging his main blade in, hoping that Sasha would take the opportunity to step in while Dracul's saber was occupied with a block. Sasha brought her saber in for his torso on the other side, hoping to make contact.
Dracul, his abilities still augmented with some command of the Force, parried Oppie's blade away before blocking Sasha's. As if on reflex he summoned the Force to push Sasha away. However, unlike all the other times before in the cavern, the Force just blew by as if it was a stiff breeze. Sasha was stunned for a moment as she realized she was still engaged in combat with Dracul and not discarded to the side like a rag doll. A smirk formed on her face as she shoved him back with as much physical strength she could muster. He kept his one handed grip on the saber and held her back, but he also stepped backward, trying to gain some distance as Oppie recovered and was already starting his own swing. And while he did that, younger Viran had closed the distance between himself and Dracul, bringing his own blade in for a strike.
With the three Jedi bearing down on him, Dracul was growing irritated. Moving quickly, Dracul shoved Sasha back with greater strength causing her to skid back a little before whipping his saber around to block Oppie's twin sabers. Holding the block with one hand, Dracul used his free hand to reach up and catch Viran's wrist. Tightening his grip, Dracul slowly started to twist Viran's wrist and arm in the wrong direction. Viran gasped as he struggled under the grip. With Viran now stuck in a pained angle, Dracul raised his leg and kicked at Viran's midsection. The kick resulted in Dracul releasing Viran's twisted wrist and causing the younger man to fall back, gasping for air. But that allowed Sasha to return to the fray.
Dracul turning his attention for a brief moment to Oppie allowed him to send a punch at the Masters cheek. Oppie reeled back as the punch made him see stars and spit blood. Now with Dracul wide open, Sasha went in swinging with a series of strikes. Dracul blocked and parried each one until he caught her saber in a locked position. Pushing down on her saber, Dracul forced her own blade to make contact with her right shoulder, searing the skin and tunic. Sasha yelped in pain as he pushed the blade further down. Sasha lashed out with a kick, hoping it would make him back off. The kick connected with the side of his knee, but had no effect on his balance. It did, however, distract him momentarily that Sasha was able to get both lightsabers away from her. But he recovered from the distraction quickly.
Bringing one hand up, Dracul backhanded Sasha across the face. Sasha, who was still recovering from the concussion she received earlier, felt her vision dot as her head jerked to the side. However, that strike left her open. He brought his lightsaber up in a diagonal slice and made a long cut across her upper thigh. Crying out in pain, Sasha dropped to her knees as she pressed a hand to her burned flesh. Dracul brought his leg up and kicked her aside just as Oppie and Viran recovered, and were already charging back into the fight.
Sasha tumbled away and landed on her stomach, groaning in pain. She felt a set of hands grab her and start to drag her away from the fighting as Oppie and Viran each brought one saber in to meet Dracul's in a mighty x shaped clash. After a second of dragging, Sasha was carefully rolled onto her back. Glancing up, she saw that Older Viran had been the one dragging her away. He knelt over her, looking over her injured form. She could feel her head pounding from the slap, her ribs aching, and her arm and leg both going numb from the lightsaber burns. But she couldn't just lay there, she had to help the others. Sasha tried to sit up, but he placed a hand against her uninjured shoulder and kept her down.
"Easy," Older Viran advised. "These cuts are pretty bad and I don't think your ribs or your head would be too happy if you tried to get up right now."
"But the others…" Sasha started to say, her voice laced with pain.
"The others are fine," Older Viran said with a smirk. "They've got this."
Sasha turned her head to the side and watched as younger Viran and Oppie held their own against Dracul.
Viran desperately wanted to rush to his fiance's side when she fell during her fight against Dracul. But his older self had beaten him and he knew that his focus should be taking down Dracul at this very moment. So running alongside Oppie, Viran brought his blade in for a strike just as Oppie brought his main hand in for a similar strike. Dracul caught both of their sabers in another x shaped clash causing the three of them to be stuck. Well, except for Oppie who still had his other saber. Oppie brought his shoto in and slashed at Dracul's midsection. The Dark Lord took a step back to avoid the smaller blade before using his free hand to catch Oppie's shoto hand. Twisting the shoto up, Dracul used Oppie's arm and blade to slash at Oppie's other hand. Immediately realizing what Dracul was doing, Oppie dropped his main saber from the clash, leaving Viran to hold it on his own, and used his shoto arm to shoulder check Dracul.
The hit caused the Sith to take a step back and caused the clash to break. Flourishing his twin sabers to roll out the stiffness they were feeling from that, Oppie readied himself to charge back in with Viran close on his heels. The two Jedi each sliced and swung at Dracul causing the Sith to think on his feet and quickly block, parry, and evade the three lightsabers that were being used against him. The void lit up with blues and red as their dance continued.
Sasha watched, helplessly, from the catwalk as Older Viran used scraps of his tattered cloak to wrap her saber burns. She winced as he tightened the knot on the last wrapping. After he did that, Sasha, ignoring the sharp pain in her ribs, sat up with her injured leg stretched out before her.
"You really shouldn't be moving," Older Viran advised.
"I can't just sit here and do nothing. There has got to be something I can do to help them," Sasha beseeched.
Older Viran sat back on his heels, thinking for a moment, as she turned her head to regard him.
"There might be something," he pondered out loud. "You used the mindspace to talk to Oppie when he was stuck here, right?" She nodded then winced as her head didn't like the subtle movement. "Then you should still be able to use it while in here."
"Wait, what? How?" She asked, confused. "I can't reach the Force in here. My connection is so weak."
"I haven't figured out everything about this place, but maybe the mindspace still works here?" He looked over at the fight behind him. "Unless you've got a better idea."
Sasha looked at him with a raised eyebrow, still a little unconvinced about the idea. "And what am I supposed to do with the mindspace if I am able to use it?"
"Drag Dracul in and make him lose focus out here. That will allow my younger self and Oppie to take the advantage and bring him down. It's worth a shot at least," He said encouragingly. "Plus if there is anyone I know who can do it, it's you, Sash."
Slowly looking back over to the duel at hand, Sasha nodded. "Alright, I'll give it a try."
"I'll be here to protect you," Older Viran said. "You worry about Dracul."
"Okay," Sasha said as she closed her eyes to focus. "Thanks, Vir."
She could see him smile at her as she called him that before closing her eyes. Sasha sat there, reaching out to the Force hoping that it would respond to her call. As she did that, she also focused in onto Dracul's mind. Because he had used the mindspace on her back in the cavern, she learned from her experience with Cien that a link should exist there for her to use. After several moments of searching and reaching out to the Force, Sasha managed to get to Dracul and drag him into her head.
Sasha stood in the mindspace. It was pitch black, with only a singular light shining down on her from some unknown source. Looking around into the darkness, Sasha tried to find Dracul.
"Dracul!" She called out in the empty void before her, her voice echoing. "Show yourself! I want to talk!"
There was no response in return, which she figured would be the case. However, she could sense another presence in here with her and it wasn't Cien. Taking a step forward, Sasha made her way in the direction of the other presence. It felt like she was walking forever until finally she spotted something ahead of her. As she got closer, she realized that it was Dracul looming in the never ending darkness.
He turned to look squarely at her. "You are brave to face me alone, child. Brave but foolish."
Sasha stood her ground before him, her hands on her hips. A stance she always did back when she owned the bar. A stance, to her, that meant she was not going to back down.
"You are going down, Dracul," Sasha said, her voice powerful and strong in this moment. "You may have taken down my physical form, but I do have more than one ace up my sleeve."
He strode towards her, his cape billowing behind him in the non-existent wind with his movement, until he stood directly in front of her, using his height to look down at her. "Really." He stated. Then he raised his hand. "You were foolish to meet me here." Suddenly the scene around them changed, to a vast hall filled with tables. On each one was a vision of Viran, dying. One being vivisected, one being torn apart, another being burned alive and the list went on. The screams of all the many Virans filled the air.
Sasha tried her best to block out his screams, his cries of pain and torment. She kept her gaze on Dracul and his helmet as she started to shake with anger. Viran is still alive. Viran is fighting right now. She kept telling herself over and over again in her head. She could not, would not, let her feelings for Viran cloud her judgement in this moment. She had to stay strong.
"That won't work," She hissed through gritted teeth as she glared at the helmet.
Then with the raise of her own hand, Sasha changed the scene around them. Viran's cries fading out as now they stood in a dark cavern at the top of a precipice that loomed over a large lake of lava. And Dracul stood mere centimeters from the edge.
"A lovely view." He commented, unperturbed as he stepped away, to let Sasha have a better vista of the scene. "Allow me to make one more addition." He growled with cruel humor. Below Viran appeared, screaming, drowning in the lake of lava, burning in flames as he was consumed by the molten rock.
Closing her hands into fists as she bit back tears, Sasha whipped her head around to look at him. "I said before that won't work," She said, pissed. She raised her hand and Viran disappeared from the lava. His cries disappearing once again."I know what this place is capable of. If you think you can break me in here, think again."
The scene changed again to a dark and empty corridor. And at the very end of it, the sound of heavy mechanical breathing was heard.
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