Chapter 12: Face to Face with Von
Ezra's P.O.V
"You feel that?" I asked Kanan, feeling a familiar presence approaching us. I felt this presence back on Atollon, back on Tatooine, and I feel it now. Von. He was coming.
"Yeah." Kanan answered. "It's him." We both drew our sabers. "He's coming." he informed the others. We heard the presence get stronger, until the door slid open ahead of us. Von was here, the dark robed figure approaching us.
"It was foretold by the force that our meeting will come." he said.
"Our meeting that won't last much." I retorted. Swinging my lightsaber at him, which he blocked with both his blades.
"To you it won't. But that's besides the point." Von flung me back with the force. Kanan charged at him, both of them going blow for blow. I tried to get up, but Von noticed and had me pinned with the force. He broke Kanan's defense and flung him back. As he approached us, he twirled his lightsabers in his hands. "I've been looking forward to this for a while." the dark warrior said, getting closer.
"Hey you!"
Von turned his head at the voice, and we saw that Alex got his attention. Von laughed as he approached him. "So you must be willing to take one for the team by the looks of things."
"You'll find out I'm full of surprises." Alex used his ropes in his wrist blasters and trapped Von's legs with them. He fell to the ground, struggling to get out. "How's that for one?"
"Rather overzealous, aren't we?" Von broke free and charged at Alex, grabbing Specter 7 by the throat.
"Help me!" Alex called out. Kanan and I got up and attempted to charge at Von, but he sensed us and pushed us away.
"No, no, no, let's not get ahead just yet." Von laughed. "I'm sorry for this, Alex."
Von brought his saber up and swung at Alex's right shoulder. Next thing we knew, Alex was screaming out in pain and was on the ground. The dude got wounded in the shoulder when we fought Trenick above Earth, but this, this was worse. Getting stabbed with a sharp object is one thing, but getting hit with a lightsaber is another. "No!" Sabine yelled out, unloading rounds on Von. He deflected all of them, bringing Sabine to him with the force. He then pulled me and Kanan to him with the force. He kept us all pinned there.
"I do apologize greatly for your friend." Von said.
"You hit him in the shoulder! You're a monster!" Sabine retorted.
"I do what I feel is necessary, even if it's for the sake of a better tomorrow." Those last few words made us all raise an eyebrow to that.
"What are you talking about?" Kanan asked him.
"You see, none of this is real. I do not want you for the Empire." We were all silent.
"He's lying!" I said. Von grabbed me by the throat. He released me after a minute, then dug his right hand into my left cheek, his fingers ice cold.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Ezra, Ezra, Ezra. You don't even know what I want with you, what I want with all of you in the first place."
"He's trying to play tricks on us." Sabine said.
"Sabine Wren, I am not doing what your mind perceives. I want all of you for one very simple reason."
"And what reason may that be?" I asked.
"To understand something, you must all see it."
Von reached for his hood slowly, then let it fall, his face looking down at the floor. He then slowly rose up, and we saw his true face. He had long hair, a full beard, those yellow eyes, and he had scars on his left cheek. And we gasped at that sight. We noticed that he had similarities to me. My mind was racing when I saw that he had my nose, my hair color, my eye shape... Von looked a lot like me, but I wasn't going to fall for his deceptions.
Using the force, I broke us all free and sent Von flying back. He laughed as he got up. "So it seems that your masters have taught you well. But, there is more to all of this than meets the eye." Von dropped his sabers to the ground and got on his knees.
"What's he doing?" Kanan asked.
"Strike me down. I know you want to end all of this. But, there is a fate that is far worse than death, and it's creeping up very slowly, but you all simply don't see it yet."
"What's he talking about? What are you talking about?" I asked.
Von summoned his sabers to him and clashed blades with me and Kanan.
"The future."