A/N: I don't own Star Wars or The Owl House
Luz breathed heavily as she tightly gripped the hilt of her cross-guard lightsaber in her hands. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest as her mind tried to fight off the exhaustion she was feeling from the fight. She may have been holding her own for now, but it was clear that her opponent was the better saber duelist. Luz had hardly used her lightsaber since the fall of the Republic, and even then she was slew a small number of clones during her escape from the temple. Her enemy smirked at her, hardly breaking a sweat in this battle. But that wasn't to surprising considering who she battling.
"Looks like your saber skills haven't improved much since your days at the temple" Boscha noted snidely
Luz sneered at that remark. Even before she became a Inquisitor, the third-eyed girl was full of herself. Before the rise of the Empire, Boscha was Padawan training to become a Jedi Knight, but her arrogance and her desire to be best in class was a clear indicator that she was not meant to be a member of the Order. Luz had tried to explain this to some of the elder Jedi, but they refused to punished and instead only lectured the girl and had her meditate, which only allowed her focused to better with her saber skills. The elder Jedi said that in time Boscha would turn away from such trivial thoughts of excelling and see the light, but honestly, Luz suspected it was more the like they couldn't afford to have another Jedi fall to the darkside like several others had done during the Clone Wars.
"Skara said something similar" the young Jedi answered, trying to keep up her bravado "and we both know how that ended"
Now it was Boscha's turn to sneer at her opponent upon hearing the name of the fallen Inquisitor. Before the third-eyed girl had been sent to kill the young Jedi, Skara had been the previous hunter who was given the task of tracking down and slaying not only Luz, but the other fugitive Padawans who had escaped the temple massacre along with the young girl as well. Skara had chased the Jedi across several systems before meeting her end in a dual with Luz on Nar Shadaa. However, Skara was a mediocre force-user and duelist compared to Boscha, who was top of her class.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. True, Boscha was strong in the Force and was a far better saber duelist than Luz, but her skills were still dwarfed by another prodigy among the young Jedi. That person in question as Amity Blight, who, despite her protests, was left to guard the ship, or better put, protect Gus and Willow, who were woefully outmatched by the Inquisitor's skill. Between the two of them, Amity was the stronger Padawan, but Luz needed her to protect both the ship and their friends in case she couldn't stop the Jedi hunter.
The survivors of Order 66 wanted to avoid a fight whenever they could in an effort to keep from drawing any more attention to them than they already had. Luz only killed Skara because she had been cornered by their pursuer and was about to kill Gus if she hadn't managed to step in when she did. Even when Boscha had managed to chase them down to here on Ryloth, they tried to evade her and escape off-world had it not been for the fact that their former fellow student had cut Luz off from the others.
"You know, if Amity was here instead of you then you might have stood a chance" the three-eyed hunter noted slyly as she pointed her crimson blade at the Padawan "but now, your going to die and then I'm going to take my time killing your friends. And trust me, I'll especially make it hurt for Willow"
Luz ignored Boscha's threats kept herself steady for the next battle. She was afraid, but unlike the teachings of the Jedi code, she did not reject her fears, but instead embraced them. Though the code of the Jedi told those who followed it to not allow their fear to control them, Luz's master, Eda taught her that though fear was the enemy of the Jedi that lead to the path to the darkside, one could hone one's fear to better sharpen their skills in battle. It was one of the many unorthodox teachings that Luz's master had imparted to her. So, after taking a deep breath, the Padawan reignited her lightsaber and took a stance against her opponent. However, rather than be intimidated, Boscha laughed at Luz's stand.
"you want more? well, I'm happy to oblige!" she assured "you can join your master in death!"
Boscha the activated the other end of her specially designed lightsaber, even allowing it to spin for a few seconds to really put some fear into her prey. However, Luz steadied her doubts, leashed her fears and began to circle Boscha, who did the same with her. The Padawan refused to let her former fellow Jedi's comment about her fallen master get the best of her, only focusing on the hear and now. Despite her age, Boscha was gifted in the lightsaber combat form known as Makashi, which a form of saber fighting that allowed the user to move fast and hard against another wielder of the Force. Luz on the other hand, hand been practicing the form of combat known as Djem So, which dealt with heavy strikes and put a lot of effort into offense instead of defense. Though Luz wanted to learn how to use Juyo like her teacher did, Eda forbid her from learning that saber style since it touched to close to the darkside.
The Inquisitor scraped her lightsaber along the ground, kicking up dust as a method of trying to further scare the young Jedi. Luz, though scared on the inside, hide her fears well through a strong visage. She didn't want to make the first move, but at the same time she didn't want to give Boscha the chance to think up a plan to beat her, either. It was at this time that Luz as reminded of another lesson her master had imparted to her.
"If you ever find yourself facing an opponent your outmatched by, try to trick them into making the first move " Master Eda's words played through mind "it's not the most honorable tactic, but it may just save your life. Remember: above all else, it's not how you survived the fight that matters, but that you survived at all."
Eda's teachings were, as one would expect, not exactly looked at fondly by the other Jedi Masters. Though she was a student of the strict Oppo Rancisis, Eda was a rebellious Padawan to say the least. From constantly questioning the code of the Jedi to pulling pranks at the temple, it was astonishing that Luz's master wasn't kicked out of the Order, let alone attain the rank of Jedi Master. As her teacher, Eda taught Luz several lessons no other Padawan had been trained in, and many of which saved her life on more than one occasion. And hopefully, one of those very lessons was going to save her life.
Luz stopped circling, which in turn made Boscha halt as well. The young Jedi when lowered her saber in a downward position to make it look like she was going to make an attack. Boscha shifted her stance ever so slightly, but just from that move alone Luz knew that the Inquisitor had taken the bait. Now came the hard part:moving fast enough to counter the fallen Jedi's attack before she could get a hit in. Suddenly, Boscha lunged forward with her saber staff spinning rapidly. Moving quickly, Luz managed to block the oncoming swirl of deadly crimson, stopping the spinning saber from the maneuver before shoving the dark Jedi back. With Boscha now off balance, Luz went in to press the attack.
Swinging her lightsaber with everything she had, the Padawan unleashed a flurry of fast strikes that kept Boscha off-balance as she tried to block the attacks while at the same time try to go back on the offensive. As their blades locked in a battle of supremacy in the battle, Seeing that she could lose both the fight and her life, Boscha fell back on an old tactic she would use in her old sparring matches back at the temple: get in the other person's head.
"How does it feel, Luz?" she questioned "the fact that your master died just save you so you can die later!"
Again, Luz had to ignore the three-eyed girl's words, but this time it was a much more difficult. Not a day goes by that the lost Jedi felt the pain and guilt of losing her teacher. It was only a year ago when the Republic and the Jedi Order fell and from the ashes the Empire rose with the Sith Lord Darth Sidious as its Emperor. Luz and her friends were the night the temple fell. Along with her friends, Luz and her teacher fought their way through waves upon waves of Clones who once fought alongside them. In their battle of survival, they attempted to save as many other young Jedi as they could. During the battle, Luz had found several Younglings hiding in the Council chambers. She told them to stay where they were for and she would return with help to get them out of the temple one they had cleared a path for them. Sadly, when she and the others returned to collect the children, they had all been slain by the hand of a user in the ways of the darkside of the force.
Seeing that there was no chance of saving anyone else, Eda and the Padawans fought their way to the docking bay for temple's ships. They had arrived just in time before several of the Clones had finished sabotaging the remaining ships. Once they had secured a carrier that could hold them all, they had thought they had managed to escape this nightmare. But those hopes died when the mysterious hooded leader of the attack on the temple arrived with a large squadron of Clones at his side. Seeing that they couldn't escape from such a overwhelming force, Eda stayed behind to give the Padawans a chance to escape. Luz pleaded tearfully for her teacher to come with them, but she refused, telling them that so long as she and her friends lived so to would the Jedi.
So, with a heavy heart, Luz was forced to taken the ship and leave her master behind. As the ship moved out of the temple's hangar and out into the wilds of space, Luz could only catch a glimpse of Eda as she locked her purple saber blade with now a blood red blade of a Sith lord, but a blue one of a Jedi Knight. Though she didn't see her master die, she and her friends felt Master Eda's passing through the Force. It would not until months later that the Padawans would learn the name of Eda's killer: Darth Vader.
"You know, I heard that when Vader killed Eda he tossed her corpse of the side of the temple like the trash she was!" Boscha harshly taunted "How dos it feel to know that your master was cast aside like the gutter tras- agh!"
Boscha's word were cut off when Luz suddenly slammed her head against the three-eyed girls on head, not only striking her skull hard with her own, but also blinding her third eye for the moment, giving the young Jedi enough time to kick Boscha in the chest and knocker her away to give Luz the chance to go back on the offensive. It was no secret among those who had trained alongside Boscha knew that though she was a strong in saber offensive combat, she was sorely lacking in terms of defense. With every strike of her lightsaber, Luz continued to knock the Inquisitor off balance, tapping into her anger to give her the strength she needed to beat back her enemy. Her growing aggression did not go unnoticed by Boscha, who once again tried to goad her opponent into making a mistake.
"What's this? are you tapping into the darkside of the Force?" she tried to mock, though it it heavy with pants as she tried to defend herself "what would your master think?"
"There's something you didn't know about Eda, Boscha" Luz said as they locked blade again "she taught me that there is no light or dark side of the Force, it only matters how you use it!"
Luz then shifted her cross-guard so that it would break the ring the held Boscha's lightsaber together, breaking it with ease. The resulting destruction of her weapon caused the Inquisitor to stumble backwards before falling to the ground, grasping her hand in pain. She then looked up to see the Padawan who had bested her in battle.
"So, what are you going to do now, luz?" the fallen Jedi asked snidely, hoping to ply to her morality "are you going to kill a defenseless-"
Boscha's words were cut off when Luz suddenly plunged her lightsaber through the Inquisitor's center eye and out the back of her head, killing her instantly. Once her foe was slain, Luz withdrew the blade and deactivated her weapon before holstering it.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do" the fugitive Jedi answered the now dead Boscha
By no means did Luz take any pleasure in killing a defenseless enemy, but it had to be done. Another lesson Eda had taught to to her student was that while one should show mercy to a beaten opponent, that rule does not apply when it comes to matters of survival. Had she let Boscha leave, she would no doubt either hunt them again with more Inquisitors aiding her or worse, inform Vader of their last known location she he could kill them himself. So, for her own protection and for her friends, Luz did what she had to, no matter how bad she may feel about it. So, after giving the body one last look in regards to it before leaving the scene.
"Hey, it's Luz!" Gus called to the others "she's back!"
When Willow and Amity both heard their fellow young Jedi's words that Luz had survived her fight with Boscha, they let out a collective sigh in unison. When Luz went to divert Boscha from finding them, they feared that she would not return, but thankfully, their fears were unwarranted. As the young Jedi ran out to meet with here, Amity was the first to reach her and embrace her.
"I thought you were dead!" she she said, holding back tears "you have to stop scaring me like this!"
"I know, I'm sorry" Luz answered softly as she embraced her
With the Order gone, Luz was able to express her feelings for Amity, whom she always held a flame for but could not express herself until now.
"What about Boscha?" Willow inquired
"...we should go" was all Luz could say "Gus, go get the ship ready"
Gus nodded in understanding with Willow following behind him, already knowing what her friend had done. Meanwhile, Amity hanged behind to stay at her lover's side.
"Are you sure your ok?" she inquired
"Ok as I'll ever be" her lover admitted "but next time, your fighting the next Inquisitor we run into"