He was there; the Sith. He came from nowhere- was just there, in front of her- and she didn't dare move. The Dathomirian Zabrak known as Darth Maul, his vivid red skin covered in patterns of black tattoos, stood before her.
The Sith Lord paced back and forth, his startling eyes never once leaving Nata-lin. She couldn't help but be reminded of a tiger she'd once seen in a zoo on her home world. Beautiful, dangerous and predatory.
There was something different, she noticed. Two, dark and dirty walls loomed at either side of them, like a cavern made of metallic buildings. This time they weren't alone either, this time a body joined them, though it took a minute for her to see the face. Borkat. She caught the wicked-looking grin on the face of the Sith Lord. It was obvious to both of them; he had won-
Nata-lin snapped out of her vision to find, not Darth Maul, but the still-alive Borkat, standing directly in front of her. He backed off a little as soon as she had blinked out of her immobile state, but frowned at the look she was giving him. It was like she'd seen a ghost.
"What is it?" he asked quickly.
Nata-lin blinked and looked around to see that they were standing in the eerily familiar alleyway from her vision. She tried to tell Borkat of what she'd seen, but she couldn't. Just like with her other visions, she could say nothing about Darth Maul.
"Run; now," was all that she managed to get out.
Luckily, Borkat's instincts were good enough to catch on to what she meant and he took hold of her upper arm, pulling her away from the wall he'd leant her against. The two of them had just turned for the end of the alleyway that they were nearest to when Borkat stopped. And as his hand went straight for his lightsaber, Nata-lin tensed.
Everything felt wrong, like it did in her visions about the Sith Lord; so Nata-lin wasn't surprised when she heard the telltale 'fsshhhwuuuummm', as she liked to describe it, of a lightsaber being drawn from the other end of the alley. She turned and saw that Borkat already had his own, blue lightsaber drawn also.
That was when she saw him, the creature that had stalked her visions. The dark figure that always eluded her everywhere else. Darth Maul, in the flesh. Nata-lin gasped. The Sith's face was mostly covered by the dark hood, but she could tell it was the figure from her visions. She just knew; everything down to his posture proved it.
"I take it that's him then," Borkat said, finally releasing Nata-lin's arm.
She nodded, momentarily unable to form a coherent sentence.
"Go; get back to the temple," he ordered.
When Nata-lin didn't move, he repeated himself, but she ignored him once more and simply whispered, "If you die, I won't make it far anyway. There's no point running."
Borkat gave her a look that made it clear that he disagreed with that assumption. But since she was a seer, and she'd just had a vision, how could he disagree? Unfortunately, Nata-lin knew that she knew the outcome of the duel between Borkat and the Sith Lord. Though Borkat was an incredibly talented Jedi Knight, Darth Maul was better; the only one that didn't know that was Borkat.
"Sorry I left," she whispered, as both Jedi stepped forward.
"Apologise when we get back to the temple," he shot back, not taking his eyes away from the Sith.
Borkat's optimism was encouraging, or it would have been to anyone that wasn't a seer and hadn't already seen that he was wrong. Nata-lin just stared sadly at his back as he and the Sith moved closer together. She hated the noise the lightsabers made as they clashed together and she closed her eyes against the sight of the fight that was only happening because she was stupid enough to think a couple of hours out of the temple was worth the risk.
Now achieving her little caffeine fix was going to get Borkat killed and her... well Nata-lin didn't know what would happen to her, but it wasn't likely to be pleasant. She hoped that it wouldn't turn out the way she had seen it; but hope was all she had at this point. And it was futile in the face of her visions.
The sound of fighting stopped quickly; far more quickly than she would have thought. And Nata-lin didn't even want to open her eyes out of fear that the victor would be the Sith Lord. She heard a lightsaber being deactivated, but the lack of any noise other than footsteps coming towards her made her realise that Borkat would have said something; Darth Maul must have won. Fuck, she thought, cursing herself for being the reason that this had happened.
With a frown already creasing her features, Nata-lin slowly opened her eyes. She knew what to expect, and, sadly for her, her assumption had been correct. Green eyes opened to the vision she'd seen so many times. The Sith Lord that had taunted her in visions that she could never use to reveal him, was now taunting her in person. And the wicked grin she'd seen in her latest vision flashed across his expression, disappearing almost as soon as it had come, as he took notice of her fear.
Just like in her visions, he was in front of her as if he had appeared from nowhere, and she was frozen. She knew that it was no Jedi mind trick holding her there either, because she was virtually immune to them. That meant that it was purely fear that stopped her from moving away from Darth Maul. Fan-fucking-tastic.
Nata-lin could literally feel his eyes boring into her as he paced back and forth in front of her. She had been right in her initial assertion of him being beautiful, dangerous and predatory; but that made her feel no better with him standing in front of her. It gave her no comfort to know that she had been able to judge his character correctly from her visions.
She didn't know what to say- or if she should even say anything at all. What would happen now, Nata-lin didn't know either. How much she would have given for a vision right then! She was such an idiot; and she well knew it. It was only now that the consequences of her mistake were catching up with her though. It was her own fault that she'd ended up in this situation, and it was her fault that Borkat had died trying to protect her.
Why did I have to come outside? she chastised herself, trying not to let her stupidity and the awfulness of the situation she'd put herself in overwhelm her. Why am I such an arsehole? Why couldn't I have just stayed where I was? None of this would have happened. For a seer, she didn't really have much foresight.
"What now?" she whispered, not knowing what to say.
She had known that he was coming for her- had known it for over a month- and he must've known it too; but she could only guess at his intentions now. And the way he was looking at her, so predator-likes from beneath his hood, was not making her feel any better about things.
"Come," was all that he said, his voice deep.
The Sith Lord turned to walk in the opposite direction, not even waiting for a response and simply expecting her compliance. But Nata-lin didn't move an inch; she didn't even blink. For some reason, his command didn't register properly in her mind, so she stayed exactly where she was. And that was why Darth Maul paused, when he heard no footsteps behind him.
He didn't even turn as he half-growled, "I could make you."
The menace in his threat was enough to send a chill up Nata-lin's spine. Swallowing the lump growing in her throat, she couldn't see what else to do. So she took a step forward; a step nearer to the Sith Lord. Seemingly satisfied that she was going to follow him, Darth Maul continued, still, not once, looking behind him.
Nata-lin trailed after him, uncomfortably wrapping her arms around herself. A pang hit her as she had to step around the body of the Jedi that had almost been her friend; the man that she had gotten killed because of her own stupidity. The man that had died trying to protect her.
It was all her fault, and she didn't even have time to shed tears over the needless loss of life. As she continued to walk, leaving a reasonable space between her and the Sith Lord, she couldn't help but hate herself. Nata-lin scowled; why had she taken such a chance for a stupid cup of coffee? Why hadn't she told him to run and leave her (even though she knew that he never would have agreed to such a thing)? She might as well have just killed Borkat herself for all the blame she was piling onto herself; she knew that it was her fault though. It was.
Nata-lin looked up to see Darth Maul was walking in front of her as if he knew that she would follow without question. The sight gave her an idea. If she could just get away while he thought she was complying with him. She had no chance at escaping when he was looking at her- if he could read the signs in her movements- but when he walked with his back to her like this... There might be a chance.
How easy it would be for her just to run from the Sith Lord. He wouldn't see it coming at all, and that was her only advantage- just as it was her only chance. She understood that. And maybe she could make it back to the temple this time, when he wasn't watching her. Maybe.
Nata-lin also understood that she had a limited amount of time to get away; until end of the alley, she guessed. If she could make it back to the other side of the alley before he could reach her then her chances of escaping would increase tenfold.
There would be other people outside the alley- and then even if she did get caught, maybe someone would recognise her and inform the Jedi council of what had happened. She was pretty sure that the Council would be able to guess anyway when they discovered she was missing and someone found Borkat's body; but... trying was better than doing nothing, wasn't it?
As Darth Maul was nearing the end of the alley, she knew that she had to try immediately, or she'd never get the chance. Taking a deep breath, Nata-lin steeled herself for the task at hand. In one quick movement, she turned and started running in the opposite direction, determined in a last ditch effort to put as much distance between her and the Sith Lord as possible.
Nata-lin knew that she was fast; she'd spent a lot of time running in the past. She just wasn't sure if she could be fast enough though; she had no idea how quickly the Sith Lord could run, but she was betting that she'd have to be faster than she ever had been before to get away from him.
With a tiny glance at Borkat, Nata-lin hurdled over his body, well-aware that Darth Maul must have noticed that she was not following him anymore. But she couldn't hear his footsteps with how loud her heart was beating. That was why she hadn't at all seen, or heard for that matter, it coming when the Sith Lord vaulted over her so that he landed straight in front of her path.
She didn't even have time to stop herself before she collided with his body and felt strong hands reach out to grab her. It took her a moment to realise what had happened, but that moment cost her. Nata-lin struggled but found it exceedingly hard to even squirm in the increasingly tight, iron grip of her captor.
"No, no- let go of me!" she burst out, still trying to free herself.
Her back thumped against the side of the building that formed one wall of the alley and she felt her head smack backward too. Nata-lin groaned, just thankful that she hadn't hit her head too hard on the impact. The fact that it hurt though, was not the worst of her problems. She hadn't been expecting the Sith Lord to do something like that- but then, clearly, she didn't know what to expect from the Zabrak.
But she stared at him defiantly as she hissed, "Let me go."
Darth Maul stared at Nata-lin from beneath his hood, where she could just about see his eyes. She couldn't stop glaring as soon as she saw them because, in truth, they were beautiful- but, more than anything, frightening. A bright yellow, ringed by a border of red on the outside, she had never seen their like- except, of course, in her visions. But they could never be compared to the real thing. His glare was, quite frankly, terrifying.
"I thought you were smarter than that," was all that Darth Maul said as he stared her down.
Swallowing the lump growing in her throat, Nata-lin spat back, "They know. The Jedi Council, they know- I told them everything."
The Sith Lord's lips curled upward at the corners, much to Nata-lin's surprise. Is he- is he smiling? she thought, confused. Shouldn't he be afraid or something? But that was when she realised; she wasn't dealing with someone who was just trying to kidnap her- she was dealing with a Sith. They're so twisted and sick; maybe he does think this is funny, she thought briefly, still not taking her eyes from her captor.
"Good," he answered simply, tilting his head to the side as the small smile faded.
"It's about time they figured out that we exist."