Disclaimer- I do not own the rights to Star Wars Kotor 1 and 2 or their characters and likeness.

Ch. 8

As he roamed further and further down the halls of the Sith Academy, it did not take Andrew long to come across one of the things he was searching for. Entering one of the many training rooms Andrew saw Darth Sion, the Sith Lord that had hounded him ever since Peragus, standing in the middle of the open space holding Atton up in the air by his throat. "Let him go Sion."

Tossing Atton to the ground, Sion turned to see Andrew. His burned and scarred body still looked like it was barely being held together. "So you actually came. I hope you know you're going to die this day, just like all the other Jedi who came before you."

"You will find out very quickly that I'm not that easy to kill. I've come to stop Kreia from irrevocably damaging the galaxy. I didn't intend on fighting you Sion, but if I have to get through you to get to her than I will ."

The Sith crossed the floor over to him. "She told me to show you respect when you arrived, but all I feel for you is hate and contempt. I do not understand what she sees in you. You are pathetic, showing mercy to the weak and the unworthy."

Andrew did not flinch or shutter. "As twisted as she is Kreia was still my teacher. She helped me reconnect with not only the force but with myself, and I predict she holds the same respect for me as her student."

Sion's face scrunched up like he had just been insulted. "You know nothing of her teachings or pain. You turned away from power when you faced Malachor. I refuse to believe there is greatness in that. I shall prove to her that you are weak, and a waste of her time."

"Kreia is using you Sion you have to see that. All she wants is for me to test how strong I've become against you."

"You." There was a slight hesitation from Sion. "You are wrong I'm her most powerful apprentice since Revan. She would not believe you to be stronger."

"You can not hide your doubts Sion, it shows within your voice. You know what your fate holds, but it doesn't have to be this way. If you just let go of your..."

"You will not erode my will exile!" Sion bursted out with anger towards Andrew. "I shall show you what real power is." He activated his red lightsaber and swiped at Andrew's legs. However, Andrew flipped over the Sith, sliced the top of his shoulder, almost severing the entire arm off, and landed right next to where Atton was.

"Atton follow the passage I just came from, it should lead you back outside, Make your way back to the Ebon Hawk and finalize those repairs, and I don't want to hear any arguments about me needing help. I can handle myself fine, just go and make sure we have a way of getting off this rock." Without saying a word Atton ran to the door and out of the room. Once he was gone Andrew switched his attention back to Sion. "Sorry, I had to make sure there was not going to be any distractions between us. So where were we? Oh yes, I quote unquote disarmed you before you could even make a proper attack."

Sion's expression was full of pure frustration, his eyes glared with anger and distain. "You think you've hurt me? This is nothing compared to real pain." He grabbed the side of his injured arm, and shoved it back into its previous place. A small vapor of black smoke exhumed from in-between the two pieces of burned flesh, and as Sion removed his hand the almost dismembered arm stayed in place as though it had never been detached. "Now you realize the true power of the dark side. I will kill you and bring your head to Kreia's feet, then she will accept my loyalty again."

Stunned by what he just saw, Andrew stepped backwards and went into a defensive position. "No matter what you do now it will not change the fact that you betrayed Kreia and casted her out. I do believe that is one transgression she will not be too eager to forgive. She abandoned you a long time ago Sion, you have to accept that truth."

"I will make her see that she was wrong in her judgment, right after I have ended you." Sion once again lunged at Andrew striking left and right trying to outmaneuver him, but nothing seemed to be working. Then suddenly Andrew's lightsaber was thrusted through the center of Sion's chest, and then pulled out. The same black smoke that appeared before returned and filled the gaping hole that had been created. "You are strong...stronger than I had anticipated. However, that will not matter. As long as the dark places of this world flow through the cracks of my flesh, I cannot be killed."

"I will strike you down a hundred times if that is what it takes to stop you. Your life will end this day and all your suffering will be over, I promise you that."

Sion cackled in amusement "You have much determination exile, but it is no use. You cannot beat me, and I will soon show her that choosing you was a mistake."

"She chose me because I gave up the force, and you could not. Just let go, and you will understand."

"No!" Sion yelled. "Without the force life cannot exist!"

"There is more to life than the force. Andrew protested back at him. "It s only one piece of the puzzle."

"The force is pain, the force is power, the force is what grants the ruthless the ability to kill the weak. You will learn this lesson firsthand from me, and in turn I shall spare the suffering that awaits you beyond here." Sion unleashed yet another onslaught. He tried desperately to reach an advantage over Andrew, but he simply could not find one. Every motion the Sith made was mirrored, reversed, and countered back upon him. "There is nothing more powerful than I, and yet I find myself struggling to kill this Jedi outcast. What dominion does this man hold over me that makes my abilities seem insignificant compared to his. What has changed about him since last time we met." Then without warning the cyan blue saber hit Sion once again, it was a hack at his side that cut right through the ribs. The familiar black smoke appeared once again and filled the void of absent flesh and repaired the damage done to Sion's body, However, this time Sion stumbled slightly when he moved forward and appeared to have difficulty standing upright. "This is not over yet, the Dark Side still holds me together. I can still kill you and prove myself."

Andrew deactivated his sword and held it by his side. "That is only an illusion. You are beaten Sion, you only need to admit it and then all your suffering will be over."

A small tear crawled out of Sion's left eye, and he fell to his knees. "How are you able to kill to me, to kill me at this place where the force runs strong and the darkness dwells."

"Unlike you I chose not to carry the burden of Malachor with me. You believe because you suffered physically you are stronger for it, That is where you are misguided. What I experienced was far more worse. I cut myself off from the force, and lived from it. I walked but did not make a sound. I touched but did not feel. I breathed but it was as though I wasn't alive, like I didn't even exist. I was just a wound in the galaxy that wouldn't heal. True agony is felt when you are nothing to anyone or anything, and loneliness has become your only friend. That is The Enlightenment of Pain." Sion was silent, he stared up at Andrew who stood over him with a look of pure confidence and assurance in himself and his beliefs. "What makes me stronger than you Sion is that I learned that even though there was an emptiness inside me, I was still alive."

Sion looked upon his hands that were grey, mangled, and scarred. "The force is all that I am. It fills me with darkness."

"Kreia despises the force. If that is truly who you are than you know how she feels about you." Sion's eyes opened up wide, and he looked up at Andrew who said "That is the truth. Accept it and let go. You will find that death is not as terrible as you believe."

"She will try to do everything she can to break you, but I do not believe she will succeed. She may destroy your body like she has done mine, but she will not be able to touch your spirit. Thank you exile, for freeing me of this place at last." The Sith Lord then slowly fell to the ground, finally letting himself succumb to his wounds. Another enemy had fallen and now there was only one left.

Andrew entered the center of the academy, where sharply pointed stone pillars surrounded a glowing red floor that illuminated a familiar old woman that he once entrusted. She broke her meditation, and said "At last you have arrived. Is Malachor as you remember?"

He approached her slowly, cautious of what she might do. "It is, but I do not believe you are the same person I once knew."

"Oh I'm the same. I have only just pulled the veil from your eyes and made you see what I truly was. You no doubt have questions for me, and what kind of teacher would I be if I didn't indulge you here and now."

"I think you should start with why you are doing this. What do you have to gain from killing the force."

Kreia stood up, and said "I will gain nothing from my action, but what the galaxy can benefit from the death of the force is quite vast. It is said that the force is what guides us through life and brings us to where we need to go, similar to destiny or fate. The problem is I do not believe such things are necessary. As you have most likely witnessed from my former associates; when someone relies too heavily on the force it can cripple and weaken them. Only when that person experiences life without the force do they become strong."

"Funny, I just had a conversation with Sion where we talked about that very same topic."

"Than you have at least a small understanding of what I am saying. I chose you, because in you there is an opportunity to have the force die. I want the galaxy to undergo what we went through, so that it will suffer as you and I did and be forced to pick itself back up. Once the galaxy learns to live without the force, only then will they be able to truly appreciate it. Yes, there will be casualties throughout the process but that is simply natural selection weeding out the weak. There were sacrifices to be made in every great historical revolution and this one shall be no different."

"Kreia it doesn't have to go down this way. Neither one of us has to die. If you just let go of this ambition of yours all will be forgiven. I can still save you if you'll let me."

"I wondered if you would try to save me at this ending between us. If you would act like the noble Jedi you so want to be and find it within yourself to show me compassion. I appreciate your concern, but there is no redemption for me. Besides I do not want your mercy, I want you to break."

Andrew listened to Kreia and even though he didn't agree with what she was doing, he saw that she was standing by her ideals. Kreia felt so strongly about her cause and what she believed in that she was ready to die to make it a reality. This in some strange way restored a small amount of respect Andrew had for his master. "Well now that I know where you stand, where do we go from here?"

"One of us must kill the other, thus cut our tie to one another, and end our relationship as master and apprentice. I will give you fair warning. If you do not follow through with this, than all you have achieved will be for nothing. I shall not hold back, and I suggest you do the same."

Andrew simply smirked and nodded. "As you wish. We started this journey together, let us end it together."

Both of them activated their sabers and jumped in at each other. Their blades collided back and forth in a calm flurry. Neither one of them struck out of anger or hate, but out of pure respect for one another. However, that was not going to stop Kreia from trying to get a rise out of Andrew. "Tell me exile, were you able to save the servant of Atris? I hope you didn't have to witness her blood shed."

"I would appreciate if you didn't speak of Brianna like she was just another one of your sacrificial pawns, she was my friend and you led her back to that icy hell hole to die, but to answer your question, yes, she is still alive. However, I did not come in time to spare her from Atris's blind furry."

"Brianna? So she has renounced Atris completely, and it's all thanks to you. I'm curious however, at how Atris was unable to kill her former servant. As proficient you are at training others, you still would not have been able to teach that young woman enough about the force to go toe to toe with a former Jedi master." Breaking away from Kreia, Andrew did not say a word and dropped into a defensive pose by one of the pillars. "Unless, she wasn't able to stand equal to Atris at all. Your handmaiden got injured didn't she?" Andrew remained stoic and silent staring at Kreia. "What did you do exile? I sense fear in you, a fear of me finding out something. What do you have to hide about your echani disciple? You forget that we are still connected I can read every piece of you, including that flowing essence that is currently running through your body. That essence is a bond, but not just any bond a force bond. You saved her life back at the academy and now you are connected to her, which means if you die she will also. Well exile that simply means you have twice to lose, if you fail to kill me."

"You can say that Kreia, but I simply do not see Brianna in that light. She will not be a hindrance on me, if anything she will give me something to fight for." Andrew then leaped into the air and swung his lightsaber down upon Kreia, however, she deflected the assault and made Andrew roll out-of-the-way of her counter attack. The battle once again continued. For a one-handed woman Kreia held her own against Andrew, She met every move and counter he made with her own. In one instant she spun around him and tried to make a horizontal slash at his torso. Andrew barely jumped out-of-the-way of her attack and almost got sliced in half. However, Kreia's attack left an opening that Andrew was quick to take advantage of. After spinning out he followed up with an uppercut swing at her hand and made contact. Kreia fell backwards against one of the pillars grasping at her now missing piece of limb. "The student has bested the teacher.

"If that is true than finish me, end this!" She hissed almost challenging him.

"I do not need to. There is nothing left you can teach me Kreia. This fight is over and you still have your life."

"You shall not show me mercy." Suddenly three purple lightsabers flew out of the inside of her robe. All of them pointed threateningly at Andrew. "You underestimate me. I will not quit until you deliver a fatal blow."

One of the swords soared at his head, but he ducked underneath it and cut the hilt in half as it soared by. Another blade tried to come hack down upon Andrew, but as he blocked it the other one circled around Andrew and sliced diagonally across his back. He spun around and cleaved it before it could do any further damage. The heat from the blade singed Andrew's skin deep, and the pain of the burn was shooting through his entire body. He fell to one knee, and his breathing became heavy.

The last lightsaber floated around Kreia's head, and she cackled down at Andrew. "You've fought well so far, but you're not done yet and I will not wait for you to catch your breath." The saber swirled around for another second and then dove straight at his head.

Andrew could no longer feel his legs, but instinctively he rolled forward out-of-the-way towards Kreia. Where he then shoved his own lightsaber through the center her chest. "That's not necessarily your heart, but I was close enough."

Kreia fell to her own knees to meet Andrew at eye-level, and spoke very softly. "At last it is done. You were the greatest I've ever trained, and you killing me here has rewarded me in more ways than you could possibly know. All I ask of you now is that you stay pure and true to yourself, not to any lightside or darkside but yourself."

"I will... I wish it could have been different. That it didn't have to come to this, but at least now you can rest. Your time in this place is over." With that the old woman collapsed to the ground in front of him dead at last. "You were cast out from both the Jedi and the Sith. Like me you had no place in the galaxy, you were like a ghost. Nothing you said had any meaning to anyone, until you met me. We made each other stronger, and soon we brought ourselves up from the darkness. We were bonded together, but we did not walk the same path. You always saw this day coming. You had always planned on betraying me, but I believe you did it for more than just the chance to kill the force. I believe deep down you wanted to teach me to be better, like you did for Revan. You wanted me to learn from the mistakes of you and your apprentices, and I did. Nihilus was The Enlightenment of Hunger, Sion was The Enlightenment of Pain, and you Darth Traya would be The Enlightenment of Betrayal. You are the simpler of lessons to learn, but probably the most important. Betrayal is like a poison, once you're infected you spread it to everyone else around you until you die from it. There is no way to prevent it. You just have to be observant of others, and be careful of who you put your faith in. That however, is not what you wanted to do. I think you saw me as a cure to your betrayal, where you can finally die knowing you wouldn't hurt anyone else. I hope that is true and that you can now find peace." Andrew began to stand but the burn on his back sent more waves of pain throughout his body. This sent him right back to his knees even lower than before. Andrew thought about healing himself, but he couldn't raise his hand high enough to do so. There was nothing he could do for his injury. His breathing was irregular again and his eyesight had become blurry, but he was not going to let himself die there. Just like in the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, Andrew found himself thinking about the white-haired beauty that had put her life on the line for him more times than he could count. He crawled forward, fighting past the agony he was going through, doing anything he could to see her again. However it was all to no avail, for he barely made it five feet before he fell unconscious within the center of the Trayus Academy.

...End of Ch 8...