Note: The inspiration to how the first scene of this episode is written is directly from a FF by moviefan-92. called Reprogrammed. I didn't copy the chapter word for word, but the way the chapter flows in his story fit so perfectly with what I envisioned for the first scene, that it made it astounding. So yeah, got permission and all that. Technically, he said, that I don't need permission, as this website is purely fanfictions based on things that the writers themselves cannot claim, but appreciated the gesture. Whether he considers it valid or not, I still have his permission, and that's what's important.
This chapter has been a long time coming. Actually, I had it viewed slightly differently, namely in the direction of a vision that Anakin will see. The old idea I had for this chapter, and the one I have written, both resolve in much the same ending, but get to it by opposite means. I would say both are good, but this one is more of what I feel the story NEEDS and is more powerful by sheer impact.
Can you believe that I started this fiction with this chapter and the first one both in mind before I started? EVERYTHING ELSE was filler! xD
That is a lot of filler. o.o
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the clothes on my back.
Episode 20 - What Remains to be Said
I run along the road and jump over a broken bridge. At my feet are the dead of my Master. Around me, the Master flows like a flowing river, gentle yet strong, keeping watch over me, and ending anyone touched by the waters.
I stop at the end of a street. Below me is the red core of the planet and before me is a train tram. A train roars in the distance, it's speed the only thing keeping it out of Nihilus's grasp thus far.
I roar back. My anger, my hatred, my pain, it all comes out and the air around me explodes of its own accord sending debris flying. Those… those people! Their hands, their mouths, their eyes! Touching my shoulder in comfort, their mouth's daring to lecture me or tell me everything is alright, and their eyes! Their eyes that take comfort or excitement in my presence rather than wish me gone! They had made me feel at ease for the first time in my life, and it was more peaceful than I could have imagined. Even with all the crap going on with the various little conspiracies and people wanting me dead, it was the most peaceful time I had ever known. I actually allowed them to influence my mind and my heart!
I cover my mouth to hold back bile. Good heavens… the stuff I did. I actually felt sorry enough about the idiot Maris to apologize to them! I cared enough to save people on Dantooine. I put my life, my ambition, my reason for existing and vengeance on the line for them! I willingly went into a situation where I almost drowned! Did they find it funny?! Did they find it amusing!? 'Ha, little Sith kid must be stupid! Let's stick him on the front lines and watch him die for us!'
I almost considered him like a father!
The train looms closer and nears a turn. As it nears, I feel a sadistic grin go across my face and I jump onto it. I land smoothly and the train immediately kicks into faster gears. The natural electricity flowing through me sends it into overdrive, and I don't feel particularly inclined to pull the power back. It took me ten years to be so naturally intimate with lightning to have it flow through me constantly and protect me, and to never be hurt by it. I'm not about to stop anytime soon.
I flip over the side and kick my way through the glass into the tram. People scream, people scramble away, and there in their midst a lightsaber flares up. It's some little Jedi. Perfect.
I don't have a lightsaber at the moment, but that's fine. I don't need one. I bring my hands forward and point my palms together. Lightning flares between them and I increase the load until it's like looking into a bright LED light in my hands. I cackle gleefully. The rage tells me to take it out on this sick freak. The Jedi who took advantage of me! Who used me, manipulated me! Kill him! I'll kill him!
The Jedi Padawan backs away from me fearfully, but keeps his saber up in fake resolution. The lightning jumping off of me narrowly misses people and they scramble to get away from me, and looking at the lightning flowing between my hands speaks of power. Aiming it to the tram would be so easy… and it would fall.
I was a fool! I actually allowed myself into the Jedi Council's presence thinking them to be people of honor! I thought they would try to imprison me! I would be presented before Palpatine, and the duel would have begun! I had mistaken my master for dead, and mistaken the honor of Sidius, but most of all mistaken the Jedi for people who actually had a conscious!
I may be able to kill this Padawan, but Skywalker would be another matter… He's strong. He may not think it, but he's even stronger than me. He just doesn't use his power efficiently or effectively in a fight, but if he became truly serious I probably cannot take him.
In the distance I feel the betrayer's presence coming for me. He found transport equal in speed to this train, and I clench my teeth.
Skywalker tried to change me! Tried to make me something I'm not! He's no better than Nihilus!
But what was he supposed to do… Tell me I'm a Sith right from the beginning? Oh, and arrest me while he's at it and leave me alone having no idea where I am or what's going on. Did he find amusement in how easy it was to change me just because I forget the key reasons I am an avenger!?
But then… forgetting the reasons. Forgetting how I allowed the monster to destroy my family, forgetting all of his daily taunts and life-draining sessions that left me cold and alone in darkness… In forgetting I had been happier than I remember ever being. I was happy again.
No! No, feelings and sentiment like that distract you from your goal, Varus! You can't afford them! They make you weak! You can't afford to be weak until Nihilus is a bowing before you with his mask in pieces and his influence gone!
I scream and slam my power into the ground. The lightning ripples across the metal frame and electrocutes a few passengers, but somehow it… it doesn't kill them. Not that I decided to go against it. I simply was distracted. Right.
The Padawan gets the rest of the passengers out into the next tram and tells me in some typical Jedi fashion how I will not harm any of them. Really it's a terrible cliché. Of course, I probably look like a typical Sith while I stand here huffing and puffing angrily, red eyes glaring at him, and lightning coming off my body.
Why can't I bring myself to kill this insect? Have I allowed the Jedi to influence me to my core? I still remember everything. How I listened and cared and laughed and cried.
No, I didn't laugh! I didn't cry! It was moments of weakness, nothing more! Moments serving only as a reminder of how much more focus and training I have to put in, how much more cold I need to be in order to become a true avenger. Just the thought of how weak I allowed myself to be makes me feel sick.
I need to kill something. I can't let this taint go unchecked! Thankfully, the Force has to have a sense of humor. It gave me the perfect candidate. "Sorry for making you wait." I smirk.
The Padawan gulps, but continues to stand resolutely against me. Not that it matters. I appear in front of him faster than he can see, grab his wrist with my lightning-infused hand, grab his neck, and lift him off the ground. He yells in pain, drops his saber, and shakes from physical contact with me. I'm not pouring in enough lightning to kill him, not yet. Just enough to make him numb and crippled temporarily. I need to savor this a moment and get my ambition back. He'll die when I decide it.
He falls limp and hangs from my grip. I grin. Any moment I'll release a true spark of lightning and fry his brain black and crispy, but the seconds pass by. I growl to myself and remind myself of everything I've lost, everything I need now, in order to fix everything, and it all starts again with me having his blood on my hands. Only once I have the resolve to not hesitate again, then I will be able to return to the path towards killing Nihilus and have the strength to fight Skywalker.
But time goes by and I become slowly aware of the people in the next tram watching us in horror. They are waiting just as much as I am for me to kill him, and the Padawan watches me with defeat in his eyes. He can't move, he can't speak, he can't resist. He is defeated. He is weak.
I hiss at the people in the window and they fall back in squealed fright, but it gives me no pleasure. Holding this weakling's life in the palm of my hand just doesn't feel right. If anything, it makes me feel lower. He's weak. He isn't worth my time, so why am I lowering myself to squash insects? Assassination, explosions, death, those were my skills before. I breathed it. I lived in it!
Now it just doesn't feel… like it matters. It's pointless and… wrong.
For the last fourteen years my every instinct has been to kill, fight, destroy, do as Nihilus wants, and in return, get the chance for vengeance and more power. It takes wealth to make wealth, just as it takes power and ambition to make power. It takes a black heart to not hesitate and do what must be done!
But now my instincts won't LET me kill him! I can ignore it easily enough, sure. I can kill him! But the problem is I don't want to!
Growling in aggravation, I toss the Padawan behind me. He isn't worth my time.
I walk up to the next tram and open the door. The people in the next car back away from me, but I ignore them as I walk through. The train is heading in the general direction of where I need to go. It won't go all the way, but it will cut my journey by a lot.
I make it to the other side without giving enough of a crap to notice any of the people. I come within inches of them, and I'm guessing one or two of them fainted. The next car is empty. It will do for a place to wait in.
"You're not going anywhere, young man." A voice says behind me. Cold metal touches my neck.
I glance briefly behind me and see an old man with a shotgun at my back. He quakes slightly in fear of me, but he holds steady with more resolve than the Padawan did. Ah… a veteran of war perhaps?
"I'm a Sith." I whisper. Perhaps he might be smart enough to grovel and beg for mercy. If not, well, not my fault what comes to him. He should be smarter than that.
"Don't waste my time and your time with cheap labels. What I see is an angry, homicidal young man. You have the eyes of a murderer. It's that simple." He nudges me with the gun. "Now get on the ground before I do something I will regret making my grandson see."
Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, I feel my eyes expand briefly in wonder.
Labels. Is that all the Sith and Jedi are? Little names that try to stand as something more? Are the Sith just murderers and ambitious men who feel the need for greater purpose? Are the Jedi just slavers and peace-mongers on the side of corrupt men with the need for an excuse for flaunt their authority in people's faces? Or does it really just come down to the individual being right or wrong? And should other people be held accountable for the actions of their labels just because they have the name? Not all Separatists are evil, just as not all of the Republic are corrupt.
Thinking about it makes my head hurt. I turn and grab the gun with my hand just as he fires. Lightning travels down it, and he jumps back in pain and releases it. He starts to hyperventilate from the electricity he was exposed to, and he becomes incredibly pale and collapses to his knees. He really is an old man, probably already near death.
"Don't kill grandpa!" A little guy jumps in front of him and glares at me. I'm assuming he's the idiot's grandson. The kid actually reminds me a lot of me when I was younger. He has the same mischievous eyes I had as a kid and…
He doesn't want the Sith to kill his family.
I look down at my hands and see in my minds-eye myself in black robes and wearing a mask. I destroy his grandfather, take him as my disciple, and…
Oh, Lord. Am I no better than Nihilus?!
The thought almost makes me wretch. Not caring anymore, I drop the gun and hastily run into the next car. I shut the door and press myself against it as I struggle to control my breathing. I feel the train go over small bumps under my feet as it tries to outrace Nihilus to… wherever it's going. Odds are these people won't make it. Nobody does. Nihilus kills everything, he always does. Except me. He expects me to be on the Ravager when he's done with the planet, so that we can resume our little partnership.
Don't waste my time and your time with cheap labels.
Do I hold all of the Jedi accountable for the actions of the leading Council?
Do I hold myself to a path that will turn me into the very thing I've always wanted to kill?
I need to think… and to vent.
Ahsoka stopped. The clones and soldiers around her continued to work and move around, and her sudden halt me them bump into her. They glanced at her out of brief concern before moving on with their duties.
The bond was back! Master and Varus were alive! Varus's bond was… weak and… angry. That was concerning, but still, he's alive! She gave a whispered, "YES!" and knew what she needed to do. They were still on the planet. All space-born vessels were in the process of fleeing.
The Sith and Seperatist forces were picking off the evacuating transports, but the Republic reinforcements were minutes away. With Nihilus consuming the planet, Coruscant was lost regardless, but at least some people would survive. But with everyone taking the space-capable transports already, that left Master and Varus without anything.
"HK!" She hollered. In the distance a robotic voice returned answer and a it returned to her. Before the droid even had time to 'inquire' what she wanted, she scooped it up and ran full throttle for the hanger.
There, she grabbed a pilot. "General Skywalker is still on the planet!"
The clone immediately became serious with a salute, but responded, "Ma'am, unless the General has a means of transportation, I doubt he will be able to make it."
"You're a pilot. Can't you and I go?"
The pilot glanced back at the transport and back at her. "Ma'am, with all due respect, it's a death trap out there. We would be up against hundreds of fighters without backup, Sith and Separatist dreadnaughts, assault ships, and frigates, not to mention the black water that is right now consuming all life in its path. The ships already leaving are being picked off by the dozen despite what efforts we can provide, and those are just the ones leaving. I can't imagine the odds of going in, grabbing him, and getting back out." He shifted his feet nervously. "Don't get me wrong, I want to go. But it is my… professional… opinion that he is better off hiding until the reinforcements arrive. And I wouldn't want to endanger more lives for odds this bad. We have better odds at being struck by lightning."
"I understand the odds are poor." She admitted. "But what if it's just us? No more lives to be risked AND I can sense him… He is actually leaving the fighting areas and heading to a corner of the planet that is isolated. He's moving fast, public transit, I'm guessing. General Skywalker is actually heading to a place that is safe, as is my partner, Varus Wynn. I assure you, the odds are about as good as they can get right now."
The pilot looked at her for several moments. With the clone wearing a helmet, it was difficult to place expressions, but he responded with a firm nod. "I'm willing to take those odds! Get in the back. If you can feel him out, I'll need you to point the way."
"Thank you!" She kept herself from squealing. She climbed up into the seat behind him and within minutes, after a brief systems check, they were off. Ahsoka had no idea what the controls were, her experience with ships wasn't near as vast as her Masters despite his efforts to expose her to everything mobile, but she didn't need to. While that meant they couldn't use the guns, they were heading away from where the majority of the diminishing battle was. She kept HK in her lap and pointed the directions out to him.
In the distance layed the public sectors of Coruscant. In it was a battle of a different kind. Once there were thousands of dreadnaughts, carriers, assault ships, and frigates and hundreds of thousands of fighters. The battle turned into a graveyard as the same ships fell to the planet or got stuck in orbit. Then, Nihilus appeared. Nihilus, in a sense, was fully visible as a tidal flood of black water and encompassing mist that moved over the various sectors. He entered the tunnels, rose up and knocked down skyscrapers, flooded the planet core, and penetrated into each building. It sickened her to think his depth was so precise as to enter people's homes by the hundreds. Nothing was left in his wake.
Now, with the evacuation, the focus of battle was turning toward the transports. Nihilus appeared as a tidal wave of hands, reaching and grasping for transports as they tried to escape him. Sith and Seperatist fighters chased the transports while the few Republic tried to fend them off. It was genocide.
She kept HK in her lap, and to its credit, it didn't have a single remark. Whether it understood the gravity of the situation or had its focus on something else, she couldn't say, but it was being fully cooperative. At the very least it understood their little mission and was patiently waiting for them to move, like a snake poised to strike.
The pilot started to turn away, and Ahsoka stopped him. "We need to go that way! That's where they are. I feel it."
"Ma'am." The clone looked nervously in the direction she pointed. "That's the bad zone. We are strictly prohibited from entering there. It's full of your 'Dark Side' so thickly that no one enters it, ever. Are you sure they are there?"
"Positive." Inwardly she felt something was wrong. Yes, it made sense for the two of them to head somewhere they could be safe from the majority of the fighting, but there? It was like leaving a battlefield to walk into a haunted cemetery with real ghosts. It was the place the Jedi focused the Dark Side into in order to help make the rest of the planet that much more full of Light. It was also full of noxious fumes and giant factories. Truth of the matter is, the only people who dared enter it are gangs and machines. Even the wildlife stayed away, unless it was truly feral.
"Alright, hope you know what you're 'feeling'." The pilot changed direction into the zone.
Slowly the feeling of the Dark Side filled the air around her as they entered into the smoky red part of the planet. Plumes of fire rose, not from battle, but from volcanic activity and factories. "A little more to the right." She added.
The minutes passed by and she focused her mind on meditating, to keep the Dark Side at bay, and on the direction the bond was leading her on. Before long, an object appeared in the distance. It rose up high. In fact, there were hundreds of objects scattered across the ground.
"What the-" The clone muttered. "It's a ship graveyard. Some old ship fell to the planet and exploded into hundreds of pieces." On the far end of it was the largest pieces of all. Even then, the majority of the ship was split into five pieces that slightly resembled a bridge and four parts of its body. It was a mess.
"What are they doing here?" Ahsoka wondered out loud.
"You sure they're here, Ma'am?"
"Yes, I am. They're heading for… that one. The bridge. Be careful."
"Heh… Don't even have to tell me once."
He flew them into a hole in the bottom part of the bridge. It wasn't a hanger, but it would have to do. As soon as the glass lifted, HK jumped out and went off in search of its master, and Ahsoka stepped down. "I'll stay here." The clone let her know. "In case we need to bail out fast."
"I'll try and be quick." She responded before heading off into the ship.
She may not have voiced it, but she was scared. This ship on the inside, in how it felt, and what she saw in the background, perfectly resembled her vision from Dantooine. The images returned and she shook them away. Yet, she was still wary.
Anakin had always speculated of Nihilus's treatment of Starkiller. Seeing the fear Varus held for Nihilus, the vulnerable side he often showed in moments of weakness or punishment, the overcompensation of imagination and energy to cover up his loneliness, and finally how Nihilus coldly and brutally destroyed every chance Varus had of living free of his past, he had no doubt that Starkiller had less than a loving upbringing; but to see the environment he lived in for his entire life, it only set it in stone more.
The place, the Ravager, was a cold, hollow death trap. As Anakin walked it's smoky halls and through broken doorways, and over or under collapsed piping and bearings, he half imagined a child calling this place home. He couldn't picture Starkiller playing hide and seek or tag or any game, not in a place like this. In his mind he saw torture devices and cold lectures and life and death battles on a daily basis. The upbringing of a child needed soft edges and love. This place was nothing but sharp edges, fire, and pain. The air was barely breathable and the Force aura coming off the walls was that of empty loneliness yearning to be filled, and in so doing, sucked all of his good thoughts and feelings away, leaving him cold and depressed and… less than positive about the upcoming encounter.
He had given chase to Varus/Starkiller for a long time now. He came across a train where Varus/Starkiller had been, and while a brief one-sided battle had started, he hadn't permanently injured anyone or killed them. Considering what the people on the train told him, that was pure luck. Varus was so livid and looked on them with such hate, that they could scarcely believe he had spared them.
Now he had nearly caught up with him. Varus had stopped near the bridge of the broken dreadnaught and judging from the gentle pulses coming off of him, he was meditating, and waiting, because undoubtedly he knew Anakin was coming. Varus was far from stupid and far from ignorant.
Varus was close, very close. Just inside the next room.
Anakin, unsure of what would happen when they see each other again, reached for his lightsaber. As soon as he made contact with the metal cylinder, a vision came over him, and he had to put his hand against the wall to keep from collapsing under its vivid revealing.
Vision-Skywalker grabbed his lightsaber and entered the next room. Anakin didn't see what was in the next room, but he saw his vision-self openly gape in shock, then turn to a sadness that came about from resolve. He was doing something he hated, but knew to be right. Vision-Skywalker turned on his lightsaber, "Varus… I'm sorry. You're under arrest for the mass murder, conspiracy to commit murder, theft, and anything else the records, or this room, reveals to the courts."
Anakin didn't know what Vision-Skywalker saw in the room, but knew it to be something bad. A voice, Varus's voice but slightly muffled, chuckled madly. "So… that's it then…"
"Please, don't make this any harder than it already is."
"Hard?" Varus cackled. The voice was broken, almost robotic in nature, as though he was speaking through a filter. "Oh, dear master, I don't think this is hard at all. I was mad, I must admit, but now I have come to a truth. You never betrayed me. There was never anything to betray. I was a pawn from the beginning, Sith or not. All that has happened is that my eyes have opened."
"Varus!" vision-Skywalker barked worriedly. A moment later lightning lashed out of the doorway into vision-Skywalker and he was sent flying down the hall. Varus, but wearing a creepy greenish-black mask ran down the hall after him, leaped across the entire expanse, and brought down his lightsaber on vision-Skywalker. Vision-Skywalker barely managed to block it in time. A hundred lightsabers flew down the hall after them from the room they were just in.
The vision moved to vision-Skywalker and Varus dueling in a large room. They were evenly matched. Vision-Skywalker had his long experience, strength, and better flow of the Force to predict attacks and keep up, but Varus was an rapid in-and-out erratic fighter. His reckless style was everything Anakin knew Varus to have, but it looked complete now, as though Varus had finally unlocked the true power of the combat form. It took everything Vision-Skywalker had to keep up as Varus moved around him and struck at completely random places.
The hundred lightsabers that flew after Varus circled around Vision-Skywalker into a dome and Varus leaped back out of the way before bringing his hands up. Vision-Skywalker was forced to defend himself against a ton of lightsabers bearing down on him. It was a difficult prospect as fights are trained with the idea of cutting down a person, not their hilt, and without a person to cut down, vision-skywalker had to adjust the whole way of thinking. More than a few times he struck at empty air. The only thing keeping him alive was Varus's control. Varus could not attack him with too many lightsabers simultaneously, or use maneuvers too complicated. It was a purely mental control technique strained by his concentration and will. He could not attack with all of them at once, and Vision-Skywalker managed to slowly gain the upper hand as he got used to the pace. He cut the lightsaber hilts one at a time, or even two at a time, until the number of them was reduced to five.
Varus growled and cast away the floating lightsabers while lunging in himself. The duel continued on again, with Skywalker being pressed back more and more, until suddenly the ceiling fell on them. Vision-Skywalker and Varus both noticed it and leaped away in opposite directions in time. As soon as the debris landed, Varus was already on the move, jumping, running, crawling, and leaping over the pile and down onto an, again, defensive Vision-Skywalker. Out of the corner of the vision Ahsoka ran in with her lightsabers at the ready yelling, "STOP IT!"
Ahsoka brought an attack down at the same time as Vision-Skywalker from the opposite side. A floating lightsaber moved in on Varus open hand, and he blocked both of them at once. The three of them stopped as two of them pressed down on him. Ahsoka pleaded with him to stop, but Varus would not. "HOW DARE YOU!" He yelled. He was now more livid and angry than before. It wasn't evident in his eyes, as they were hidden by the greenish-black mask, but his body language and tone was obvious enough. He seemed almost surprised by Ahsoka's attempt to interrupt the duel.
Electricity rippled off Varus, down the lightsabers, and briefly stunned them both before he released a much stronger wave. Ahsoka got knocked back, and Vision-Skywalker fell to his knees. Varus turned his attention on Ahsoka specifically, and she found herself barely holding on. "I thought you were my friend!" Varus barked as he bore down on her. "I thought you, at least, cared!" He forced her to block an attack, leaped at her again and got behind her, before smoothly turning and stabbing her in the back with both lightsabers. "I guess I was wrong." He hissed.
She opened her mouth to speak, but he pushed her down and swiped her lightsaber hilts in half. He turned on vision-Skywalker, who could only stand there in open anguish.
The vision transitioned again. The duel was still going on, and it was the same place, but Vision-Skywalker was harder pressed than ever to defend himself. Varus was wielding two lightsabers, green and red, easily. His new modified style was completely different in techniques and appearance, but was the same in the reckless, fast, surprising, lethal style. It looked like a more evolved version of what he had always done, and Vision-Skywalker had no experience in dueling him in it. In addition, lightning rippled off of Varus' body, down his lightsaber hilt at all times.
Every clash they had with their lightsabers sent pulses of electricity into Vision-Skywalker. Even if he lasted forever, the lightning was attacking him. Every attack he blocked, or attack he made that was blocked, resulted in injury. He was being worn down bit by bit as his arms slowly went numb or the pain made him flinch.
Desperately, Vision-Skywalker released a strong Force pulse into Varus to gain a brief reprieve, but Varus sent lightning at him. Vision-Skywalker managed to deal with it, but then the lightning swayed and flowed, until suddenly Varus snapped it to the side like a whip. A pair of lightning whips extended from his lightsabers and he struck at Vision-Skywalker from a distance. Vision-Skywalker managed to block it, but the whip spun on contact and roped around his back, electrocuting him.
Fighting at such a distance was hopeless. Vision-Skywalker knocked the whips aside and moved in to fight from a distance he could afford. Varus moved in as well, and they lunged at each other. Vision-Skywalker brought his lightsaber down on him, but Varus moved to the side just as it neared, and brought his hand around to his chest. A massive wave of lightning shot out of Vision-Skywalkers back to the point that a massive black mark appeared on his chest.
Varus continued the motion by pushing him down onto the ground. With Vision-Skywalker's entire body numb, he couldn't move or talk. His tongue rolled around and his jaw was slack. "You know the worst part…" Varus finally hissed. He brought up his lightsaber. "You. Made. Me. CARE!" He stabbed him between the eyes.
And the vision ended. In its passing he was left shaken.
He saw himself die. He saw Snips die. He saw Varus kill them both and become something dark and cold and angry and powerful enough to ascend from a Sith Apprentice to a true Sith Lord on par with the Triad. The vision saw the rise of Darth Varus. (Or Darth Starkiller, depending on what he would want to be called.)
Anakin closed his eyes and struggled to control his breathing. He had seen visions of a lot of people dying, his mother the chief among them, but never had he seen himself die. He wasn't stupid enough to think himself truly invincible, enough combat had shown him the frailty of mortals, even Jedi. No, especially Jedi, considering all that Nihilus did today; but it was a completely different thing to see himself die. Never before had he had a vision fail on him, and that realization shook him the most. He saw his mother die, and he couldn't stop it. Now he saw himself die, and in his gut he feared there was nothing he could do to stop it.
But at the same time he saw Snips die and Varus turn into a monster colder than Starkiller.
On the edge of his consciousness he felt the bond they shared with Snips come steadily closer. The vision was in the process of coming true in front his very eyes. Vision or not… Death or not. He had to do something for their sake. He would rather die than see his precious students fall in the way he saw.
Anakin took off his lightsaber and left it outside the door. Also on his hip was the green lightsaber of Varus… He decided to keep it on, and he stepped into the door.
It was suicide, but he needed to take a chance.
And already the vision was changed. In the vision, he walked in with his lightsaber activated and was deeply affected by what he saw to the point that he acted without thinking. Now, he walked in unarmed, and stood in silence to see what was around him.
Varus sat in the middle of what looked to be a training ring. On the walls were lightsabers hung as trophies, and on the wall opposite the doorway was an open closet with a suit of greenish-black armor on it. The armor looked monstrous, including fingered claws, but was missing it's helmet. Varus held the helmet in his hands and looked at it as he meditated. He was surrounded by dozens of dead Jedi.
This was what he saw in his vision, and his first reaction had been to realize the mind-wipe had failed, that Starkiller had returned, and… that he was under arrest for the murder of the Jedi around him. In the vision, Anakin was doing the most difficult thing he could have imagined doing, but felt it was right.
Even now, vision or not, Anakin came to the same conclusion. The mind-wipe had failed, Starkiller had returned in some capacity, and no matter what he may feel, justice needed to be met. Starkiller, the Sith assassin and murderer, was back; but was he completely back or was there still Varus in there? Either way, no matter what he felt, there was something that needed to be done. No matter his feelings or caring for Varus, the blood of his kills and sins called for justice.
Anakin contemplated these things, and as he did so, the Jedi on the ground flickered. He stopped thinking and looked closer. The dead Jedi flickered again, and again, then disappeared to reveal droids. The Jedi around Varus were holographic droids designed to fight as Jedi, or at the very least, give the appearance of Jedi.
Also, on realization, practically all of the Jedi around him was that of Anakin Skywalker's persona. Varus/Starkiller had taken his anger out on dozens of Anakin Skywalker-looking droids. Anakin gulped. It was one thing to see himself die, but it was almost freaky to see dozens of himself dead. At least the puddles of blood disappeared along with images…
Still not something he wanted to see again.
Ever.
Anakin let out a shaky breathe. Varus turned his head slightly at the sound, and Anakin drew his breathe back in slowly. This was it. At least Varus didn't jump him and try to take his head off, yet. Hopefully Varus had time to… take his anger out on the Skywalker-looking droids.
"Varus." He tested the waters.
"Skywalker." Varus/Starkiller returned coldly.
And already off to a bad start. Never once did Varus refer to him by his last name. It was always the fond name of 'Tree-Hugger', the aggravated name of 'Tree-Hugger', and the rebellious name of 'Tree-Hugger'. Only when he was being lectured or serious did he refer to him as 'Master', and a few times by accident he may have referred to him as 'Anakin'. But it was always the annoying name of 'Tree-Hugger' that Anakin had come to realize was Varus's way of fondness. In that no matter how bad the situation was, being called 'Tree-Hugger' kept it insubordinate in an annoyingly fond way, much like he called Ahsoka 'Snips'.
Speaking of Snips, she was coming closer. Varus/Starkiller had to know that. She was almost at the ship.
"Whatever… whatever you may think of me, Varus." Anakin said heavily. "Keep Snips out of it. She never knew and still doesn't."
"But you did." Varus said flatly.
"Yes."
"You knew all along."
Anakin opened his mouth to argue. He didn't know about the mind-wipe until it was already past, but that was hardly what needed to be said now. "Yes. I… I meant to tell you." Varus scoffed. "Really, I did. I've come to the conclusion that what the Jedi Council did to you was wrong, and resolved to tell you, both of you, of everything. When I said 'Problems, secrets, and future of the team' this is exactly what I was referring to."
"…"
"I didn't know of the Council's decision until it was done and you were already… Varus. But you're right. I knew of Starkiller, and I knew you were once him. For my silence, I was complacent in what they did."
"Did you find it funny?"
"What?" Anakin blinked in surprise.
"I said did you find it funny!" Varus yelled and jumped to his feet. His eyes were red in both unshed tears and anger and Sith power. "Did you sit back and watch me do your bidding and chuckle while I was lead along by your finger!" He extended his hand and took his green lightsaber back from Anakin, and Anakin didn't move against it. Pulses of electricity came off of him and stung Anakin. "Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you where you stand! Did you go to sleep at night with a smile on your face knowing that the 'weak' little old 'vulnerable' Varus was putting his life on the line for puppeteers and slavers! I really shouldn't be surprised… you all tube-fed an army of clones to doing your work for you!"
Anakin blinked again and thought of all the clones he had fought beside. Rex, Cody… he had never thought of himself as a slaver. He fought on the front lines and bled just as much as them, only with more luck and the Force on his side, but did the clones consider him a master against their will? Did they want to be free but were unable to voice a word because of genetic breeding keeping them caged to a war they never asked to be in?
But that was different from this. This was about Varus. Anakin responded slowly, "No. I didn't. I went to sleep at night worrying about you and for you. I went to sleep wondering what kind of treatment you endured growing up that made you that way, and how best to give you… an alternative path; and I want to say I was successful. Varus, think on Falon and Kota." Varus flinches slightly, but resolutely keeps his lightsaber up near Anakin's head. One slight move and Anakin would be beheaded. "They're your friends. They… well actually, Falon has no idea you're a Sith or ever was one. Kota figured it out-" Varus's eyes bloomed open angrily and he ignited the green lightsaber and Anakin put his hands up, "but! But resolved to not treat you any differently once he found out of the Council's actions. If anything, he was infuriated by what they did and he told me if I didn't treat you right, he'd… put my face in a headlock." He slightly lied. Kota did threaten him at one point about it, but nothing specific.
That calmed Varus down, slightly. He still had the green lightsaber out and ready, and Anakin kept his hands up. "And what about HK? You may have used Revan's memories to access HK's password, but the droid is still beside you. And remember, I allowed it? I don't like the droid, but I know you have a kind of bond with it, and let you have it. And what about Koj'Ineh? That… Sand person."
"Ghorfa." Varus corrected. His eyes fell in memory and the lightsaber wavered.
Anakin nodded. "Yes. I dislike Ghorfa. With a passion. I can't be around them without my darker half getting agitated, but you formed a bond with that Ghorfa. I don't know the specifics, and it's not my place to know what kind of bond that is, but it didn't escape my notice that he saw you differently from us on our departure, and how there wasn't a massive gulf between you two as there always are between Ghorfa and… the rest of us. You did that, Varus. He doesn't know of your Sith past, and odds are if you told him, he wouldn't care anyway."
"He considers the Jedi and Sith the same." Varus whispered. His eyes flickered. "Perhaps he's right, that they are nothing more than labels to hide behind."
"And to an extent he's right." Anakin adjusted his shoulders. Holding his hands up was getting tiring, but he didn't want to lower them until he was sure Varus was pacified. "I've met bad Jedi, but I've never had the honor of meeting a good Sith. Perhaps that has lead everyone to too much generalization. Jedi and Sith are but paths to take in using the Force, and to an extent, cultures. Remember Manaan?" Varus nodded ever so slightly. "We broke the law, Varus. Manaan is an example of political corruption, but is still with law that must be respected, and we broke you out. I can't even imagine the amount of trouble we got the ambassador into, if he even still has his job. When all is said and done, I expect to get some serious backlash from that, but Snips and I walked out knowing there would eventually be consequences. We may never get anything tangible against us, but we would always have it on our conscious, but we did what we knew was right. We saved you."
"Why?" Varus asked. He raised the lightsaber again, and this time in front of Anakin's face. He hissed, "Why save a Sith, Jedi?"
"I wasn't saving a Sith, I was saving Varus. A part of our team. A… precious student of mine." The Jedi responded. "Because, Varus, you were not a Sith. Even now, I don't want you to be one. You are my disciple. I screwed up… I made mistakes. Hell, I made a whopper! But who in this messed up little family doesn't make mistakes on a galactic scale?" He weakly chuckled.
He saw Varus visibly waver, and knew he was on the right track, but he kept his hands up anyway and didn't move. "You want to be mad at me? Go ahead. I'm mad at myself for not having the resolve to tell Snips and you sooner. In comparison to you two knowing about my marriage, which is yet another example of how I'm not your everyday Jedi, this probably wasn't that massive of a secret. Or wouldn't have been at the time. Now it's more or less exploded at the worst time possible. Just… don't take it out on Snips, and don't let it corrupt you."
Varus stepped back and his eyes were downcast so Anakin couldn't see his eyes. His voice was shaky. "Starkiller… He wants to kill you so badly. As my master, ending you would be the Sith's rite of passage into becoming a Sith Lord. But Varus… you succeeded. He forgives but is hurt so much he doesn't know what to do."
A part of Anakin felt he almost succeeded now, but on second thought, it wasn't complete. There were two sides to Varus here. Starkiller, who was not forgiving and wanted him, and probably Snips, dead, and Varus who forgave but was so hurt he didn't know what to do: In his own words. It felt like the two sides were barely being each other balanced. He needed to put the tide in the right side's favor…
Or get another side in there. Anakin barely kept back himself from smirking as a thought came to him. A smirk wasn't what Starkiller needed to see right now. "And what about Revan?"
Varus flinched again. "What?"
"Revan. The story Nihilus gave you was right, but it wasn't complete. You know how the story ends, Varus. Finish it. Tell me what Revan did next, and don't stop until it's over." Anakin gently half-ordered, half-requested him.
Varus looked down in thought and the lightsaber pointed down. "Revan… Bastilla threw herself at Malak to save Revan despite his pain and anger at learning of it. She was captured, but bought Revan time to escape. He realized he loved her, despite her part in the treachery, and…"
He gasped slightly, and tears started down his face. "He went after her. He found her to have been turned to the Dark Side by Malak's influence and her own pain and regret. She tried to kill him, as per Malak's orders, but he didn't defend himself and… his love stayed her hand. She wanted to help him defeat Malak and redeem herself, but he wouldn't let her. Malak was the way he was because of him, and the battle between the Master and apprentice was more than just a battle, it was a moment where everything between them was out in the open. Malak's pain and hatred for Revan's treatment of him, and Revan's newfound desire to redeem his old friend, but Malak was too far gone. He died and it was Revan's greatest regret."
Varus gulped and shook like a leaf. "Revan went on to be declared a hero again for stopping the very Sith he created, but was still exiled. Bastilla went with him and they married. Revan started the Revanchist anew to help the Republic from a distance… and made the Holocron just as he resolved to go away in search of something he feared."
Anakin let the moment pass and watched Varus. As Varus spoke, he was visibly at war with himself. Even now he was at war with himself. The Knight actually didn't know the story to that much detail, but he didn't doubt it. Varus had Revan's memories. It was what lead them to this point. Perhaps the subconscious memory of Revan experiencing the very same mind-wipe is what started Varus down the path to realizing it was all a lie and remembrance. Funny how it also may bring resolution.
"Then that's how the story ends." Anakin said evenly, unsure what Varus would do, until Varus's lightsaber clattered to the floor and Anakin found himself on the receiving end of a bear hug.
Varus wept into his shoulder.
Anakin let out the shaky breathe he had kept back for several minutes, and it came out in gasps. "Okay… alright… Whew. Okay, okay, okay…" He patted Varus on the shoulder from the awkward position of having his arms still up. "Can I lower my arms now?" Varus didn't move. He was shaking so much the Knight wondered if he would break. "Alright, that's fine." He closed his eyes and let the adrenaline pass, leaving him shaking, sweating, and on the verge of hyperventilating. He did slow, deep breaths. He wasn't going to die, Snips wasn't going to die, and Varus wasn't going to go Sith-crazy on their hides and lose himself in the process.
Brief sparks of electricity go off Varus's body, but it does little more than make him flinch inside. Anakin wondered just how much electricity Varus would give off if he wasn't having an emotional breakdown, but was rather focusing it into a weapon.
No… he knew exactly how much Starkiller could do. In the vision, Starkiller was able to focus lightning so well that he turned it into a whip, and could send electricity down their lightsaber every time they met. Starkiller was lightning incarnate. How fitting that it matched his fighting style and… loud personality so much.
Anakin glanced around during the… awkward… situation and noted the lightsabers on the walls. His eyes widened slightly as he recognized some of them. He knew the Jedi who used them, and he felt bricks hit him in the gut at the realization that Starkiller had murdered some Jedi who he personally respected.
Amongst them the lightsaber of Plo. Snip's first master. The Jedi who practically raised her as a youngling before Anakin became her problem.
"Varus." Anakin licked his lips, his arms still up around his head and getting VERY heavy. "I don't mean to sound… uncaring here, but Snips is coming. We need to get out of this room. Her first master's lightsaber is on the wall, and how do you think she will react if she sees it?"
Varus went completely rigid. Anakin didn't need to read the bond, that was actually repairing itself, or his expression to know the implication going through his mind.
The two of them left the room behind, and Anakin looked on the wall for a switch. There was a panel, but it was fried. "Let's see." He mused out loud. He heard Varus sniff beside him while he opened the panel and tried to hotwire it, but the wires were all over the place. "The ship is a mess inside and out." He sighed in frustration.
"Ravager, please close the door."
The door shut and Anakin looked at him in surprise. "It's voice activated?"
Varus shrugged. "Something like that."
"But how? The lights are off, clearly no power, and the wiring is a joke."
Varus just shrugged again and sniffed, his face still downcast. Anakin felt that he knew how, but it didn't matter. If Varus didn't want to say how the voice activation worked, that was nothing. Wasn't even worth thinking about, really. "Alright. Now. We are not going to tell Snips about what we found in there, or the hug. Agreed?" Varus nodded. "And I'll tell her everything… about you, once we're out of here. I should have told you both earlier anyway."
Varus nodded again. "What about the courts?"
Anakin stopped. "The what?"
"I had a vision… you walked in and put me under arrest for serial murder." Varus looked up into his eyes. "You still will." He said it matter-of-factly, and Anakin sighed. He hated how well his Padawans knew him. He didn't want to, but he had to.
"I… Varus, please understand."
"No." Varus stopped him. "It's right. Just… do it. Get it over with. I don't care anymore. I need my past resolved and Starkiller… is tired. He's so tired of it all."
"… I admit I… if I was given the choice before the mind-wipe, I would have pushed for execution."
"I know. I don't blame you… In a way, Starkiller would have preferred that to… being mentally raped." Varus rubbed his temples. He looked like he had a headache. "What about now?"
Anakin considered it gravely. "All things considered, after I tell them everything, including how much help you have been the last year and how your giving yourself up willingly… I might be able to push for… something lesser. The best we can hope for is for the jury to see the mind-wipe as enough of a crime and punishment to Starkiller, or you being put to community service under my reconosense and put to work with your special talents, or years in jail. A lot of years."
Varus nodded. "Whatever." He became a blank slate again. He put his emotions bottled up, but Anakin was able to see past it. He was afraid, but he wanted it all resolved and over. Starkiller, inside, was weary of the pain, the blood, and the guilt; and Varus just wanted to move on.
They started walking away from the door. Anakin felt his limp return and Varus helped him walk. Varus looked like crap, and Anakin felt like crap, and he half figured Snips did too. The team needed a vacation…
"Have I mentioned how much I hate this place?" Anakin asked as they limped away. Varus snorted in amusement. ("That's my line.") "I mean really… this is a mechanics worst nightmare." HK came into view wheeling down the hall as fast as it's little wheels could carry it. "Correction. THAT is a mechanics worst nightmare." Anakin fixed.
"Master!" HK said upon reaching them. "It is good to see your flesh has not been mutilated! If you were left a decomposing corpse, this one would no longer have purpose!"
"Uh…" Varus glanced at Anakin nervously. "Thanks?"
A moment later an afterimage hit Varus… and it took a moment for Anakin to realize Varus was on the ground due to an… areal hug. "YOUR ALIVE YOUR ALIVE YOUR ALIVE! YOU IDIOT!" Ahsoka hit him in the face.
"AH!" Varus yelled. He grabbed his nose and Anakin smirked at the sight of blood. "YOU HIT ME!"
HK came at them and Anakin barely kept the droid from head butting Ahsoka by picking it up by the sides. It's little wheels spun. "The female has revealed her true colors!" It screamed. "Release me!"
"What about me?" Anakin wondered out loud and ignored the droid. He wasn't particularly up to having his nose broken, but the utter lack of notice about the fact that he was still alive wasn't particularly… helping. He might even go so far as to say he was a whee bit jealous.
"Okay, YOU'RE BOTH IDIOTS!" She glared up at him, but turned back on Varus and started hitting him in the shoulder. "You. Do. That again. And I swear, I'm pulling you back from the grave just to kill you!"
Anakin whistled. That was Sith talk if he ever heard it. "She has your number, Varus."
HK went deathly quiet a moment before saying: "Prejudice set to maximum." Anakin put the droid on its back and let it sit there trying to fix itself. He smirked when it came to the conclusion that it was pinned. HK yelled, "Declaration of War: You have won this day, meat bag! But I will-" Anakin kicked HK and it fell on its side.
"Alright! Alright! alright!" Varus yelled from where he cowered under her as she rained down blows on his shoulder. "I get it! Now get off!"
She got off him, but looked like she was a moment's notice away from hitting him again. Varus backed off and rubbed his shoulder. "Duly noted… No more trying to save your life."
Anakin raised an eyebrow to Varus. "Is that what you did?"
"He was being an idiot!" Ahsoka growled.
Varus nodded. "Yep, that's it. I'm letting you die next time." Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at him before hitting him again. He winced "Or… not… Is there ANY part of this that doesn't involve you hitting me?"
"No." The other two said flatly.
Varus narrowed his eyes at them. "I hate you…"
Anakin felt a cold shiver go down his spine, but knew Varus didn't mean it. Ahsoka just smiled, with entirely too many sharp teeth. Varus took a step back at the sight of it.
The team about as reesembled as it was going to get at this point, they headed for the dock where Ahsoka left behind the transport. It was good thinking on her part, and Anakin felt relieved. His focus all this time had been on getting Varus to not turn into Starkiller again, and to keep Varus from killing them. He saw the vision. He saw how very close Varus was to doing it, but he was also suffering and the team's bond they had established over the year they had been together managed to overcome his anger. Varus was still angry, deep down, to be sure, but so long as they were open with each other, he would recover. They still needed to sit down with Ahsoka and tell her everything.
Anakin was not looking forward to that. There was no way of saying 'Yeah, he was a Sith, I knew it, the Jedi mind-wiped him and forced him into being one of us, oh, and the mind-wipe failed and he came within an inch of killing us all. Just thought you would like to know.'
Oh, Sithspit. He was starting to sound like Varus…
They entered the… it wasn't a dock, but it was some open room where Snips had parked the transport, and they stopped. The transport was on fire, broken into pieces, and the pilot was dead.
"That could be a problem…" Anakin reflected. He felt for the pilot. He would have to get the man's name later and tell his battalian of his bravery. Just being in a place like this took guts.
Then he noticed that Nihilus was standing not twenty feet in front of them. It was like he appeared out of nothing. Anakin pulled out his lightsaber and Snips did the same. Varus just started walking forward calmly.
Nihilus looked between them. He was missing his mask. "What is the meaning of this? You haven't killed them?"
"No." Varus stated. He continued to walk forward.
"Why is that? You are so close. Just reach your hand out, slay these betrayers, and you will accomplish what you have wanted for so long! You will be a true Sith Lord!" Ahsoka gasped and looked between them all, but she steeled herself anyway. Anakin briefly wasn't sure how to take it, but saw how firm Varus was being, and took comfort in that. If it came down to it, Varus knew how to fight him the best.
"But you won't be dead." Varus replied, still walking.
Nihilus turned his head to the side. "I'm sure we can come to a sort of… understanding. You have two masters. Both work in the Rite of the Sith Ascension. Kill me, kill him. Either one works in this case. Once you are my equal, you will have no need to deal with me anymore."
"Tempting." Varus nodded. He stood in front of Nihilus and stared him down. Anakin saw Nihilus briefly shaken by how strong Varus was presenting himself, but the Sith Lord still watched him with confidence. "Master… Sidius was a weakling, but now that I consider it, there was one area you will never beat him at, even in death. Because it is something you are incapable of."
"Oh?" Nihilus wondered.
"He understood PEOPLE!" Varus slapped Nihilus, and to Anakin's amazement, Nihilus disappeared. Varus had swiped at smoke. He continued to swipe at it like it was nothing more than steam until the black mist was dissipated.
"That's it?" Snips asked, shockingly disappointed.
"That was nothing more than an apparition he used to talk through." Varus told them. "The real 'him' is probably on the way now. We might want to run."
"Please tell me you didn't just do that to tick him off…" Anakin groaned.
Varus smiled darkly.
"Why do I get the feeling you are going to be the death of us…" Snips griped.
Varus looked at Anakin and they shared a knowing look. Anakin said, "You have no idea how close you were to being right…"
Varus's eyes briefly downcast in knowledge of how close he came to lashing out at them, and ultimately killing them, but shook his thoughts away. "The bridge is this way. Come on." With that said, he ran.
Snips yelled after him as her and Anakin gave chase. "Bridge to what!? The ship is broken into a hundred pieces if you hadn't noticed?... You have a vessel on the bridge?"
"Not exactly!" Varus returned.
The three of them ran up to the bridge and Varus 'asked' the voice automated ship to open the door. It opened to reveal a massive room in true Sith fashion. It had two lower decks on either side of a ramp where crew worked, but something Anakin had never seen before was the throne. "Is that a throne?" He asked incredulously.
"Yep." Varus ran up to the throne, pulled up the bottom, and reached in.
"Why would a throne be on- THAT'S A SITH HOLOCRON, VARUS! "
"I know!" He yelled back. In his hands was a red Sith Holocron. He kicked the bottom of the throne back down and sat. "It's Nihilus's Holocron."
"AND IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO TOUCH HOLOCRONS? AGAIN!? ESSPECIALLY HIS?"
"Let it go, Varus!" Snips added.
Varus groaned. "I know what I'm doing." He closed his eyes and held his hands around the holocron.
"That's probably the only reason YOU AREN'T DEAD YET!"
Snips stepped forward to do something, but Varus snapped his eyes up at her. His eyes were red. He turned the eyes on Anakin as well. His voice rang with power and lightning rippled over his body in increased waves. "Nihilus made this ship, this Holocron, and was able to pilot it alone without a crew, but even he doesn't know some things about the Ravager. He was only here off and on. I LIVED here my entire life. I know this ship better than anyone. Even him. It would take too long to explain the details, so please, if you are EVER going to trust me, now would be it." He kept his eyes moving between Anakin and Snips.
They didn't nod, but they didn't move either. Taking that as confirmation, Varus said, "This will take a minute, you might want to get comfortable."
Anakin and Snips looked at each other nervously before finding a place to sit. The bridge was amazingly well preserved.
"Uh… sir." A clone said nervously. "You might want to see this."
Carth Onasi apologized to Obi-Wan, whom he was talking to, and made his way to the clone. "What is it, private?" He looked down at the screen. Obi-Wan, being ever politely curious, stood behind him.
The clone said, "The black water. It's moving. All of it."
"Nihilus is on the move… Alright. I want someone to triangulate where Nihilus is going! He's already covered most of the planet, he is after something now and it won't take long for him to get there."
The seconds ticked by, and Anakin and Ahsoka just… waited.
Ahsoka noticed that Varus was mumbling something quietly to himself, while having his head bowed and eyes closed with his hands around the Holocron. They both experienced a small tingling sensation. Suddenly Varus extended his hands to either side and lightning shot out of his palms in every direction. Snips squealed and jumped in surprise as lightning barely missed her, and Anakin hissed as some entered his ribs… but stopped. There was no pain. He stepped aside. The lightning continued to be intact, but it wasn't chaotic or moving, it was… like a blue string. Hundreds of blue strings extended from his hands out into the ship.
The ship started to shake and pieces around the bridge moved. Whatever Varus was doing involved so much Force power that the area around him was moving of its own will and levitating. Even HK was in the air. (It wasn't happy about it. It insisted on being put back down.) Anakin's arm hairs stood on end and Snips shivered from goose bumps.
Anakin recognized the power. It was similar to what Varus had done on Kashyyyk, but it wasn't dark. It was similar in magnitude and… only similar to nature in a few ways. It felt like Varus was reaching for something.
More and more strings extended from Varus, and more only continued to fly out of his hands.
A screeching noise pierced the air, and Snips jumped up to look out the window. "Master! He's… grabbing the ship!"
Anakin looked out as well. Every thread reached out and grabbed the ship, whether it was the hundreds of pieces on the ground, or dozens of threads on the larger pieces.
Then Varus stopped forming more threads and brought his hands together slowly, as if he was pulling on them. He might as well have been, because the pieces the threads were attached to moved off the ground, and within moments the bridge was surrounded in hundreds of pieces of moving debris. Varus took hold of the threads and started… shaping them together and tying them. His hands moved unnaturally fast, and his eyes were closed in concentration. How he could still see what he was doing, was anyone's guess. He tied and wrapped the threads together as if making an object, and as he did so, the pieces of the ship came together. The smaller pieces moved freely and snapped into place snugly, while the larger pieces moved with difficulty, resisting him and refusing to be moved. Varus sweated and visibly groaned in effort before the larger pieces moved as well.
The bridge under their feet lifted into the air. HK fell to the floor with a now-amused cackle and joy at the visible power of its master. Snips and Anakin grabbed onto anything they could get their hands on. The view outside of the bridge was dizzying as the bridge rotated and spun in the dance of moving Ravager pieces, and Varus's hands continued to work, tying and forming the threads in his fingers.
"Admiral!" A clone barked. "All of the water is heading for the same place! Putting it on the big screen now."
Onasi raised his head to the big screen. The location was somewhere in the worst part of Coruscant and… "What is that?" He wondered out loud. The point in question looked like a complicated mess of rocks and debris was moving around and around, like a miniature asteroid belt.
Varus stopped spinning the little web in his hands, and pulled his hands apart around the object. It looked like a miniature Sith Dreadnaught with hundreds of tiny threads tied to his fingers.
Anakin looked at it curiously, proud, but curiously. He had never seen anything like this before. "Nice crafting, but how does that help us?" Snips shushed him.
Varus chuckled. "Nihilus and I both had our differing ways. He made the ship and directed it with his mind like a cage. I recognized the ship for what it was."
"Oh? Besides a pile of junk and mismatched circuits?"
Varus smirked and opened his eyes. "Is that what you see? Guess it must be my Miraluka blood that I see it so differently. Look around you… it pulses with the Force. With life. You felt it in its walls, its air."
Anakin snorted. "Sorry, Varus, but it reaks of hunger and the Dark Side just like Nihilus."
"What can you expect from a wounded ship that hasn't been fed in a while, and was sent crashing down against its will?"
"Will? Fed? Wounded?" Snips wondered.
Varus smirked. "It's alive." With that, he took hold of the throne's armrests and released wave after wave after wave of electricity into it. The lightning moved to somewhere they could not see, as it didn't go through the room.
One minute turned into two as he continued an unending wave of electricity into the throne. Before long he sweated harder, and then was visibly grunting in effort as he pressed on. The lights flickered briefly before coming on, and the ship gave off a gentle hum. The creaking ended.
Varus stopped sending electricity into the armrests of the throne and gasped for air. He slouched on the throne in exhaustion.
Anakin shared a look with Snips. He had no idea what Varus was doing, or what he was talking about. A living ship? It was ridicules. None of the less, all they could do was stand there and trust him.
"Uh… we may have a problem." Snips alerted them.
Anakin looked out the window, and Varus opened his eyes. In the distance a massive wave of black water was rushing towards them.
"Considering how it took a matter of minutes to get here, I don't think we have much longer before it hits us." Snips said as if it wasn't obvious enough.
"Whatever you're going to do, Varus. Now would be good." Anakin said.
Varus nodded weakly and raised himself back up on the throne. He put his hands together around the holocron and the threads resumed their place on his fingers. Then he started moving his fingers like a puppeteer.
Immediately the ship quaked under their feet. "Come on." Varus whispered. "Come on! I know your hurting, I know your crippled, but you can do it. One more time!" The ship creaked and collapsed as if in defiance, but he pressed on. "Master is coming, and he isn't happy. Come on, girl. You can do it!"
The ship quaked again but this time, slowly, but surely, it rose off the ground.
Carth Onasi could barely believe his eyes. The mini-asteroid belt had formed itself into a ship. Not just any ship either. The Ravager! And Nihilus was heading straight for it… He was trying to leave the planet!
WHAT DID IT TAKE TO JUST PUT THAT THING DOWN!? "OPEN FIRE!" He barked. "Shoot it down! Nihilus is not escaping the planet!"
Snips yelled triumphantly as the ship rose off the ground. It wasn't very high, but the once hundred-debris-junk-ship had formed itself into a collective-mess that somehow resembled a ship and it was capable of flight! "You did it!"
"Well, I'll be damned." Anakin acknowledged with appreciate. He looked around the bridge and knew the wiring in here was just as much a pathetic joke as the rest of it. "It's holding together."
Nihilus was now fully visible coming at them, but if they lifted off now, they could make it.
Laser fire erupted all around them and hit the ship. The ship shook from the impact and a loud screeching metal-on-metal sound erupted, and explosions could be heard inside the ship and around it. They were being fired on from orbit!
"You two just HAD to open your mouth's didn't ya!?" Varus barked. He grunted with effort to keep the ship together. "We aren't going to be getting out of here at this rate. The fire from above will destroy us. It's already being dissipated by the atmosphere, orbit won't give us that luxury!"
"Is there another ship we can use?" Snips asked. Varus shook his head.
"I'm not leaving the Ravager behind. Besides, there IS no other ship!"
Anakin mused. "We can't get out the conventional way…" His eyes brightened. "So let's try crazy!"
"What you thinking?" Varus struggled to maintain hold of the ship around the Holocron. The threads were coming apart in his hand.
"Is the Ravager capable of Warp?"
"Yes?"
"That crazy enough for you?" Anakin smirked. Varus' eyes slowly expanded in realization.
Ahsoka jumped in. "You can't be suggesting we go to Warp HERE?!"
"Why not?" Anakin shrugged. "Nothing in this corner of the planet alive, except one bastard who is coincidentally coming straight for us." He smirked, which was shared by Varus.
"Gleeful affirmation: I agree with said plan. The explosion will be magnificent! Killing the undesirable and leaving destruction and mayhem in our wake! Why are we wasting time discussing this?" HK added.
Varus nodded. "Good thing we like crazy. I suggest you guys get situated. I'm going to need to give her another feeding." He put his hands down on the throne and released a huge stream of lightning into it. It was much stronger than before. He growled painfully, whether he was finally feeling the pain of electricity going through him, or if it was the massive drain on the force. He had to already be going through Force-Addiction and withdrawal with everything today.
Snips opened her mouth to stop him, but Anakin grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. Now was not the time to stop him. He would be going through massive addictions and withdrawals soon, but the time to bear it would be after they were alive and out of here.
He glanced out the window. "Uh… Varus?" Nihilus was almost on top of them and the orbital fire on the Ravager was unrelenting. The Ravager was breaking up.
"I know!" He growled painfully. He yelled out in pain as he pushed more and more lightning into the throne.
"Varus!"
"I know!"
"Varus, I can see the dimples on his FACE!" Technically, there was no face, but Nihilus was getting pretty close. He was closing in on them and was almost on top of them.
Varus yelled painfully and reached out to take the Holocron.
The ship turned its nose up, and then there were stars.
"Sir…" A clone murmured. "It just… disappeared."
Carth Onasi gaped, again. Ships don't just disappear. They don't just leave massive craters either… and the water was gone.
Nihilus had escaped.
Carth swore and threw his fists down on the panel in front of him. All around him was silence. Nihilus had consumed most of the planet of life. Scarce pockets remained, and they wouldn't survive. The disappearance of most of the planet's atmosphere turned into storms that tried to find a balance as some areas had a little more air than others. The planet was becoming shrouded in storms, turbulent winds, and tornados left behind, and beyond that it was virtually lifeless. Once the atmosphere calmed, there wouldn't be enough of it left to sustain life on a permanent basis. Coruscant was dead…
And Nihilus had reached the ship, and somehow made it disappear in a move that… left a giant hole in the area.
"I…" Carth gulped. He needed to report to the Senate. He needed to report to the Revanchist of the Sith Lords escape. He… just needed to report to everyone at this point. The galaxy would be a mess tomorrow, and he was the ranking witness besides Obi-Wan. He swept his hands through his hair angrily. "I need a drink…"