Last time: The Trio and Older Viran reached Dracul and engaged in battle.
Now: Sasha tries to perform the impossible while Op and Viran continue to fight.
Chapter 3- The Last Stand
Dracul used his saber to push hard at Oppie's, sending him staggering backward while next to him Viran pushed in. Viran brought his saber down for an overhead strike, hoping to cleave the Sith down the middle. Dracul blocked it, parrying and rotating Viran's blade to the side as he stepped in and grabbed Viran by the throat, and dragged him around to counter Oppie who was just coming back in. Oppie slid to a stop and spun around Viran, and Dracul let go, stepping back and bringing his saber around just in time to block both of Oppie's sabers. Taking a safe step back, Viran hunched over slightly as he coughed, rubbing at his throat. After a moment of recovery, he charged back in, this time going for Dracul's leg. Dracul stepped back, protecting his leg.
But his movements were slow, he was having a harder time keeping up with the two opponents and his leg barely missed Viran's blade. Dracul used the movement to kick at Viran, while he locked sabers with Oppie, who had bound his saber in a scissor with the Jedi's two blades. Viran leapt away from the kick, narrowly dodging the boot as it came at him. He then immediately stepped back in as the leg lowered and slashed upward towards Dracul's left pauldron.
Dracul tried to react but his distracted movement made him too slow. The blade actually connected, glancing off his shoulder armor, but burning through the suit. Dracul stepped back with an angry growl, breaking the saber lock with Oppie with a twist of his hilt. With his freehand he took advantage of Oppie's momentary stumble as the lock broke and grabbed his wrist, pulling him out of the way and sending him to the ground. He turned his full attention to Viran. With a series of vicious chops, he drove the younger Jedi back. Viran blocked each one, but traded ground as the Dark Lord pushed forward. Until Viran felt his boot heels teeter over the edge of the catwalk. Dracul smashed down with one great swing, and Viran blocked it, but then Dracul pushed against the block, disbalancing the Jedi and sending him falling over the edge. Then he turned to face Oppie, who was back on his feet, rushing to meet him.
Viran cried out as he slowly fell to the catwalk just below them. Even though he was falling like he was going through a thick liquid, Viran tried to turn and catch himself before he could hit the catwalk. However, when he did hit, it was not a soft landing and he landed more on his side then he was hoping for. He felt his shoulder dislocate as he rolled onto his back. He laid there groaning in pain as he clutched his shoulder. Glancing up, he could see the fight continue between Oppie and Dracul.
The breathing echoed down the corridor as Sasha continued to glare up into Dracul's helmet.
"Well played." Dracul acknowledged. "You may have been a worthy acolyte." He said, keeping his back to the breathing and returning her stare. "But you will make a fine servant."
Sasha slowly shook her head, not breaking her stare. "I will never be a servant of yours. I am Jedi and I will die as a Jedi. But you…" Sasha glanced past him for a brief moment as the dark figure with the heavy breath strode forward. She could see clear as day, Darth Vader looming behind Dracul. Sasha suppressed a shudder as this was the first time she had seen Vader this close. Normally, she only ever saw images of him or footage from the holonet. Other than that, Vader was a mystery to her. But seeing him there was a terrifying sight to behold. She looked back at Dracul. "You will be defeated."
"You are right." Dracul said, paying no mind to the looming figure approaching behind him. "You will die." He glanced behind him, and two doors on either side of the corridor opened before the approaching Sith, and Oppie and Viran stepped out into the corridor to stand in Vader's way, igniting their sabers.
Sasha followed his gaze. She looked at Oppie and Viran as they stood off against Vader. She then returned her gaze to Dracul, who was still looking in the direction of the fight. In one swift motion, Sasha threw a right hook at Dracul's head. The punch landed against the helmet making a loud clang noise. Sasha hissed and withdrew her hand as it stung from the hit.
Dracul laughed, as Oppie and Viran started fighting her conjuring of Vader and he turned back to face her down. "Temper young Jedi, I can sense the anger within you. You would not want to fall to the Darkside." He laughed maliciously.
Sasha glared up at him. "I won't give you the satisfaction of that," she seethed.
Behind him, Vader cleaved through Oppie and Viran with ruthless efficiency as he walked down the corridor with a purpose towards Dracul. Sasha winced slightly as she watched them fall again. It was starting to wear on her slightly, but she still remembered that this was just her head and that none of this was real. However, she did take a step back as she watched Vader approach.
Dracul turned his back on her, igniting his saber and facing down Vader. The two monsters stared each other down for an instant before they clashed. Vader deflecting Dracul's attack and Dracul deflecting Vader's counter attacks, the vicious, precise sweeps turned aside by each as the sabers slashed into the walls of the corridor around them in a deadly stalemate.
But this was not Vader. For all the menace the Dark Lord held, this was a projection of him from Sasha's mind. Terrifying for all that she pictured him to be, but lacking the powers, the abilities, the experience the real Vader would have fought with. With a twist of his hilt, Dracul turned aside a parry and cut off the projection's hands, the bloody, cauterized stumps of his wrists exposed where his armor now ended. And Dracul followed through, beheading the projection. Dracul froze at the end of the beheading, before turning back to Sasha with a sneer. "Is that the best you can conjure, little Jedi?" He mocked. With a twist of his head, the scene changed to a frozen tundra, harsh winds drove icey daggers against Sasha and her lightweight Jedi robes, while Dracul stood unperturbed, buried in his armor as his cape billowed about him.
Sasha shivered against the cold, wrapping her arms around herself to provide some form of warmth. "That's… just the… beginning," Sasha said, standing her ground but still shivering.
Oppie rushed forward, his two sabers swinging. Dracul was still distracted and barely blocked the attack. He gave ground to the Jedi, and Oppie pressed the attack. His shorter blade defending him against Dracul's counter attacks, and his main blade pressing forward. Oppie tried a quick series of thrusts, each one Dracul parried off to the side. Then Oppie broke the pattern, swinging low for the Dark Lord's legs. Dracul gave more ground. Then the Sith swung down, heavily, and Oppie had to use both blades to hold back the attack. Dracul pressed forward, and let loose a kick at Oppie's leg. That staggered the Jedi back, and Dracul pressed forward with his own series of hammering cuts at the Jedi's head. Each one Oppie deflected to the side as now the Jedi gave ground. Oppie caught the last in a scissor block and rotated Dracul's blade down and around him, and then stepped in, shoving the Dark Lord with his shoulder. The Sith staggered back with a growl, and extracted his saber from the block, running it up the length of Oppie's saber and hitting his left forearm. The Jedi cried out in pain, a grazing burn but painful. The Dark Lord, pressing his advantage, swung down at Oppie's head, and the Jedi fell back.
One last trick of his great uncle's saber, Oppie clicked the shoto into the pommel of the main saber, turning it into a staff. He spun it around him in a flourish as he stepped back, settling into his new form, then pressed forward. The extra reach of the elongated hilts joined together gave Oppie a slight advantage, and he used the shorter shoto end to parry Dracul's blade out of the way, bringing the main blade down across the Sith's shoulder. Dracul was pressed back, now having to contend with this different style. And Oppie pressed forward, parrying thrusts while swinging the main blade down and around. Taking a half step back, Oppie thrust the main blade forward like a pike into Dracul's chest. Instead of backing away, Dracul side stepped it, using his blade to parry it in front of him. Then the Sith grabbed the hilt in Oppie's hand, pulling on it forcefully, and Oppie held on, a strange game of tug-of-war ensued as they fought to control the staff hilt. Dracul swung his saber in, and Oppie managed to barely leverage his shorter blade into position to block it. Dracul used the changed position to push the saber hilt forward, into Oppie's face, dazing him. Oppie staggered back and barely deflected a few blows. Like Viran, he stumbled, teetering on the edge of the catwalk before a final push from Dracul sent him over the edge.
He fell, and landed heavily near Viran on the catwalk that was below where Dracul now stood, surveying them with contempt.
Sasha released one last shudder in the icy landscape before changing the scene yet again. This time was a large open dirt landscape that held no sign of life anywhere. It was significantly warmer there than the tundra had been, but it was moderate compared to many other sweltering deserts. Dropping her arms, Sasha gestured out to the open field.
"I can do this all day," Sasha said. "And I know I can't break you in here, but I can wear you down. How is your physical form doing, by the way? Still in one piece?" She was sounding a little too cocky as she said that, but she wasn't backing down now.
Dracul, who had seemed distracted up until now, turned to face her fully, coming to his full height and towering over her even from a distance, his dark visor hiding his eyes as he looked at her with a death's glare. Then he cocked his head to the side, and let out a malicious laugh. "Your concern is noted, and appreciated Jedi, but you should be more concerned for that of your companions, especially now." Then he started stalking towards her across the dirt plain.
Sasha narrowed her eyes at him. She had no clue how Oppie, Viran or Older Viran were fairing outside of the mindspace. She knew they had to be okay, but the pit that was forming in her stomach was telling her otherwise. Her gaze turned to a glare as she rolled her hands into fists, feeling her nails dig into her palms. "They are fine. I know they are. You don't scare me."
"Then you are a fool." He said simply, continuing to stalk forward. With that he threw his hand out, and Sasha went flying backwards, as she had when he had thrown her out of the mindspace before.
Opening her eyes with an audible gasp, Sasha collapsed backwards onto the catwalk, gripping her head. That amount of time in the mindspace with a concussion was not recommended. Pressing her left hand to her temple, Sasha looked over to see Oppie and Viran discarded to the catwalk below them. She then looked up at Older Viran where he was still kneeling protectively before her. Older Viran shot her a concerned glance, but he looked away a second later. Her gaze followed his then landed on Dracul.
Dracul was staring them down. Near him was the portal he had been attempting to get through. With a last look of contempt, Dracul turned to the portal and started walking towards it, no longer wishing to waste time with the Jedi who confronted him. Older Viran turned toward her and holstered his blaster. He then pulled out the data pad and dropped it next to Sasha. Looking down at her, he gave her a smile.
"I have an idea. When I give the cue, pull Dracul into the mindspace. Distract him. I'll take care of the rest," Older Viran started.
"But wh-" Sasha started to ask before he cut her off.
"I trust you to know what to do." He said as if reading her mind. "And then to return to your proper time, you need to follow the road we took back at least forty paces," Older Viran advised. "It will be the third portal on the left."
"What…?" Sasha started to ask again.
He gave her a frown before reaching down and laying a hand on her cheek. "Take care of each other. It was good to see you again. May the Force be with you." With that he stood, turned, and charged at Dracul.
Sasha attempted to sit up and only ended up flopping onto her side. "Viran!" She called after him as he ran for Dracul.
"Dracul!" Older Viran called as he reached the Sith Lord.
Before the Sith could react to the call, Older Viran tackled Dracul over the edge of the catwalk, the impact sending Dracul's saber falling away. They fell not one or two, but three levels down before landing on a catwalk before a portal further below. The impact caused them to part and roll from each other. Older Viran got up with a groan as his body was not what it once was, but he was just grateful he got Dracul away from the portal. At least the one Dracul wanted. As the Sith still lay there, Viran got a good look at the portal behind him. It looked like it headed to a desolate place that was nothing but craters and grey dust. It also looked to have no atmosphere as he could clearly see a planet just beyond the horizon covered with blues and greens and tan earth, clear as day. Whatever was beyond that portals gate was a place that he doubted even Dracul could return from, it looked to be as close to deep space as any of these portals would open to.
That's when Viran noticed that white owl sitting on the top of the gate. It cocked its head to the side as it stared curiously down at him. He recalled only seeing this owl once before and that was when he found the right gate to save the past. He then looked back to Dracul who was just barely coming to his feet since he had absorbed the brunt of their shared impact.
Dracul stood to his full height, glowering at the old man that stood before him. Whatever weakness he might have shown from absorbing the fall was gone as the Dark Lord took a step towards this impediment to his plans. Then he heard mechanical breathing behind him. The breathing of Vader, Palpatine's acolyte. Dracul turned slowly, to regard this new opponent behind him. Vader was not there. He turned back to the old Jedi, and faltered back, slightly, as Vader stood there, matching his height, matching his menace, and his red sabers blade burrowed into Dracul's armored chest.
He stumbled back, at the lightsaber blade that drove into his chest, looking down at the grievous injury.
But it was not real.
He lashed out, at the girl several levels above, and broke this illusion of the mindspace she had trapped him in while he had been distracted.
Sasha cried out as she was thrown back as she grabbed her head. Her brain truly hated her now as it pulsed with sharp pain. But the distraction had worked.
As the mindspace blinked away from him, he looked down at his chest and saw the smoldering remains of a grievous blaster wound, exactly where Vader's saber had been driven in. Then he looked up and saw the old Jedi standing there, coldly staring at him from the other end of a smoking blaster barrel as a triumphantly dark smirk came to his tired face.
With a snarl and before Dracul could even draw another breath, Older Viran ran toward the Dark Lord again. He wrapped his arms around Dracul and tackled him backwards into the portal. He could hear Sasha calling out to him from above, but he ignored it as a blissful smile came to his face as he and Dracul went through the portal together.
Then he couldn't hear anything. Or even breath. Wherever they just traveled to had no atmosphere, it was a cold airless planetoid completely open to space. Good.
He also noticed there was hardly any gravity here too as he just floated slightly above the ground before settling in the loose, gritty dust. As he lay there, he could feel his own life Force slipping away as the last of the air escaped his lungs. The entire time his thoughts drifted to Sasha. His Sasha. He could see her smiling face again. Hear her laugh.
I'm coming, my love. Wait for me. He thought. And I did it. I fixed everything.
Closing his eyes, Viran smiled as he became one with the Force.
*Salutes* REVIEW for OLDER VIRAN!