Anna held her saberstaff in her hand, clearly in distress. Luke's weapon was already ignited, but he made to move toward her. She looked up from her saberstaff, letting out a breath, and ignited the twin blades. Pearly white light filled the room and lit up her face, but she still made no move. It's just like in training, she thought to herself. She had no idea what the Emperor was playing at by setting them both on each other, but there was something darker behind it all.
"Go on then," the Emperor said. "Time is of the essence."
Anna looked over her shoulder at him threateningly. She had her weapon in her hand, Luke did too. Vader and his master were unarmed. It would be so easy to strike them down right now, and she wanted to. Every fibre in her being was pushing her to swing her saber and end it all. The only thing that stopped her was the enticing call to the Dark side. If she were to kill either of them, she would be unable to get off of the road to the Dark.
She saw the Emperor's hands twitch, and she returned her gaze to Luke, once again letting out a breath. He too seemed to be fighting with himself, trying to bring himself to make any sort of aggressive move toward her.
"I'm sorry," he said, and she lifted her blade just in time to block him. Green and white sparks flew as the blades connected, and Anna winced as she pulled back. She heard the Emperor laugh, clearly enjoying watching them clash. She gritted her teeth, hating that she was amusing him. She hated him, and wanted nothing more than to wipe that sinister smile off his face. However, she knew that he was not her concern right now. There might have been one time when she was at an equal skill level to him, but that time was gone. He was much more powerful than her, and even though she could tell he was holding back, she was still having trouble with blocking his blade.
She twirled the pearl-white blades in her hand, pacing slightly, when she attacked. Light on her feet, she spun the handle of her weapon around, white light drenching the darkness, and forcing Luke back on his heels. He had to be quick in order to block the twin blades that she wielded, just as confident as she usually was.
However, inside, she was anything but confident. This is just like in training. This is just like in training. She repeated the line over and over again in her head, trying to make herself feel better about attacking the one she loved.
She stepped back from her attack, and Luke eyed her cautiously. They were both fairly shaken, the lingering feeling of Force Lightning still holding onto them. The only sound in the room was the hum of the blades, the green and white light illuminating the bridge they stood on. The Emperor and Vader watched from the stairs, and Anna had to hold back a growl. If Vader try did have any good left in him, he would stop this. He would overthrow his master, and even in his weakened state, she knew it was possible. Three of them could take the Emperor down if they had the mind to, but she did not want to test the theory. Not when Vader stood as complacent as ever next to his master.
"My patience is wearing thin," the Emperor warned, and Luke stepped forward, bringing his blade across, which she easily blocked, and flipped around so that they no longer touched. She came at him again with her blades up, and they clashed multiple times furiously, the sounds of the sparks filling the room. Anna knew that the Emperor was laughing as she forced Luke on the defensive, but she didn't care. She could see that she was not straining him, as her attacks were not vicious as they had been when they had last fought together on Tatooine. Still, she was putting effort into her movements, making sure to mind where each of the duel blades were, and which parts of her were left vulnerable. The saberstaff, as much as she loved it, had its glaring weaknesses.
Luke pushed her back with a combination of his strength and his blade. She jumped back, forced on the defensive, and spun on her heels to put distance between the two of them. Luke closed that gap quickly, and their blades clashed multiple times before Anna jumped up onto the stairs, claiming the higher ground. She didn't care that the Emperor or Vader were standing close to her, nor did she care if she ended up hitting them. She was completely invested in this battle, one that was taking all of her focus.
Luke pursued her, and she slashed at him, keeping him on the lower ground. It was a desperate slash, but it did its job, and she climbed a few more of the stairs. He raced up as well, and within a second's time, he claimed the higher ground, and swung his green blade at her pearl-white ones. She spun on her heels to block it, but lost her balance as her foot slipped off of the stair, and she let out a frightened cry as she tumbled back down to the floor, her lightsaber disengaging.
The Emperor laughed, and she ground her teeth as the sound resonated with her the wrong way. She jumped back up and ignited one of the blades, just enough to block Luke's next slash. She ignited the second one and paced back a few steps, trying to get a good look at Luke's face. Although she couldn't feel any dark energy coming off of him, she needed to see him just to make sure. To her relief he held no anger directed at her, and stood just as he had when they had trained not long ago. Still, he was much better than he was during their mock battles that they had, as if he was a step ahead of her every time. However, this time, he watched her as he paced, clearly not wanting to engage. Neither of them did.
Anna was the one who made the first move, spinning the handle of her saberstaff around her fingers and gripping it tightly, one of the blades delivering a harsh slash aimed at Luke's shoulder. He blocked it, but the move had caught him by surprise, she could see it in his face. Now, it was her turn to get on the offensive, and she gave him a small smile. In the heat of battle, she couldn't help it. She spun on her heels in a 180 degree turn, and made a sweeping stabbing motion behind her back, directed at him, but she was just a fraction of a second too slow, and felt the heat of Luke's lightsaber nearly graze her back. She turned to face him once again, someone irritated that he was able to read her movements so easily, and she once again heard laughter ring out through the throne room. The Emperor could feel her brewing anger, and she bared her teeth, not at Luke, but that the man that stood behind her. She would love to throw her saber behind her, taking out two of the most feared men in the galaxy, but she had to remind herself why not. Her focus returned to the battle, and Luke swung at her, both hands on his saber, nothing but sheer power behind it. She blocked it in an upward swing, and brought the other blade up to utilize as an offensive weapon while his blade was partially subdued. Once again, Luke anticipated her move and jumped back. All her blade met was the stale air in the throne room, and she hissed in anger.
"Use your anger!" the Emperor called to her, and she hunched forward. Her back was to him, so he couldn't see the deathly glare she was giving him, but it didn't matter. She could feel the intense emotions dragging her down, and although she hated to use them, she couldn't control her next move.
She let out a frustrated cry and swung viciously at Luke, both hands on the saber at first, then only one as she came around again for another swipe at him. He dodged easily, but she brought one of the blades down from above again, forcing him to block. Her frustration was coursing in her veins now, and she made no move to push it away. She lifted the second blade up from underneath Luke, and he was forced to spin away from her, putting a good ten feet of distance between them. He was behind her in an instant, up on the stairs, and she tightened her grip on her saberstaff while he looked down at her, his own saber in a non-threatening position pointing at the floor. She growled angrily, but it faded the moment she saw his icy blue eyes staring into her in the darkness.
She closed her eyes, feeling the frustration leaving her, decompressing the pent up emotion inside. Had she just channeled the Dark side? Was that what it felt like? She opened her eyes once again to see Luke watching her, still not making any move toward her, and she knew that what she had just felt was what Luke must've been feeling during his duel with his father. The thing that disturbed her the most was that she liked it. It made her feel powerful, and for a moment she had lost herself in the battle, not caring that it had been Luke she had been swinging at. He watched her carefully, but the concern left his eyes as he saw her coming off of her high.
The Emperor was enraged, and glared at the back of Luke's head. Anna watched as the Sith Lord, raised his hand, and she was ready to spring, but then he paused. Luke was watching the man behind him, am knew full well what he wanted to do, but something stopped him. He dropped his hand.
"She has lied to you," he told Luke. "More than you know."
Luke said nothing, but he was listening. He disengaged his lightsaber, and Anna watched the two from her place below.
"She is not who she says she is," the Emperor continued, his voice eerily calm for someone who had just been fuming with rage. "She has told you her backstory, has she not?"
Luke said nothing, but now had his eyes trained on her. She was frozen to her spot, waiting for what exactly the Emperor could do to twist her backstory.
"But she hasn't told you her life after she left her home planet," the Emperor continued. "She worked for us. For me. She was a smuggler for us."
"She smuggled for one Imperial," Luke stated.
"Oh, but she didn't," the Emperor said calmly. "Yes, it's true that she smuggled for Major Shay, but that's not all."
Anna winced at the mention of the Imperial that had been responsible for so much pain after she had left the planet she was from. The Emperor noticed it.
"Yes, I'm sure he'd be very interested in seeing her again," the Emperor continued. Her head shot up as she felt his eyes on her.
Luke too was watching her, but he seemed to be in much more of a mental battle.
"The biggest thing she didn't tell you; she has a sister," he said slowly. "One that has flirted with the Dark side. One that was once a Rebel and brought before me. The couple she was raised by was not her true parents. What makes you think that she," he gestured to Anna, "won't follow the same path? Turn against you, your friends, expose the Alliance for what it really is? How do you know she wasn't just using you and playing your heartstrings? How do you know that she is truly committed to fight for the Light when you just witnessed her channeling the Dark side, and against you?"
Luke dropped his gaze from her. She watched him in horror.
"Luke, you can't—" she began, but Luke raised his hand cutting her off. She gulped, and watched his gloves hand tighten around the hilt of his lightsaber. He was in emotional turmoil once again, she could see it. Behind him, the Emperor smiled at her, and she fought every urge not to throw her saberstaff at him.
"Is anything he says true?" Luke asked her slowly, refusing to meet her eyes.
"No!" she said. "Of course its not! How can you even consider believing him?"
"You have," he responded quickly, and she was silent. It was true. She had been mulling over the possibility of a sister, that the family she had been raised with wasn't her true blood.
"This is different," she said finally.
"How?" he asked, lifting his head and igniting his saber. She stepped back.
"Because you know me," was all she could say.
"Apparently not," he responded, and jumped from his position on the stairs bringing his saber down above her head. She blocked him with eh last of the strength she had, and her arms quivered under his power. Sparks flew in every direction as the two blades violently clashed. He brought his foot up and tried to kick her feet out from under her, and she just barely avoided it. She could feel the anger in each one of his blows, and it scared her. She could see it in his face that he believed the lies the Emperor had told him, and she didn't know what to do. The only thing she could bring herself do to was block his powerful attacks, which was getting harder and harder.
Anna jumped back from him, putting distance between them again, but he closed it quickly, not wasting any time. There was a bloodlust in his eyes, and she could sense the darkness rolling off of him in waves.
"Luke, please, this isn't you," she said as she blocked his green blade again. "Who do you believe?"
"Clearly, you have told me nothing," he hissed through clenched teeth. "If you didn't even tell me that the people who raised you weren't your parents, how can I trust you?"
She didn't have an answer for that, but all of her energy was going to blocking his attacks. She could feel the strain on her muscles, and her form was getting sloppy. Her weapon was becoming harder and harder to wield each time he struck it, and she winced.
"How can I trust anything you've told me?!" his voice was angry now, and it scared her. She jumped back as he slashed at her. "You could have just used me to gain power!"
"I didn't…" was all she could muster out. Exhaustion was settling in, and she had no idea how much longer she could hold him off. She was always on the defensive, and if the fight was unevenly matched before, it was heavily in favour of him now. He had beaten Vader using the Dark side, and she stood no chance.
She raised her blades up to block him again, spinning away from him, and felt the heat of the his lightsaber graze her shoulder blade. She hissed in pain, and turned just in time to block another vicious slash, aimed at her neck. His anger was increasing with every blow he delivered.
"Fight back!" he hissed at her, backing away for a moment.
Anna sucked in deep breaths, barely able to see straight. However, she could still hear the Emperor's gleeful laughter coming from the top of the stairs, and her fingers tightened around the hilt of her saver, still humming consistently. She lifted her head to see Luke placing a few feet away from her, watching her every move.
"Good!" the Emperor called to him. "Channel the Dark side!"
Unlike before, the Emperor's words did not make him back off of his target. Instead, they fuelled him.
Anna straightened up, holding her saber to the side. "I'm not going to attack you," she said calmly. "It's what you want, I know. You want me to prove to you that I have not lied to you all this time. All I can tell you is to search your feelings. You know what the truth is. Your vulnerable, when you're like this, Luke. He's just using me to get to you. Can't you see that?"
However, Luke had no time to listen to her desperate pleas to stop. He came at her with full force, both hands on his saber, swinging it at her with everything he had. She tried desperately to block, but he was too strong. His blade struck hers once, then another, then a final time, and it was enough to finish her off. She fell to the ground in exhaustion, her saberstaff disengaging as it struck the ground. She lay on her back, her eyes closed, and Luke tightened his grip on his saber, his anger still rolling his emotions, telling him to end it all. However, his heart told him to drop the saber. The Light and the Dark were at war within him, and as he looked at her collapsed form, he felt the Dark fading from his system.
His lightsaber fell from his hand, and he dropped to his knees.
"Anna, please, wake up," he said, not caring that the Emperor and Vader were walking toward him. He could hear their slow footsteps, but in this moment, the only thing that mattered was making she that she was okay. She would not die at his hand, and he winced. How could he let himself be manipulated so easily? He has almost killed the one he loved because of it, and he placed his hand on her forehead. She had pushed herself far too hard, and she even looked weak. Her brown hair stuck to the sides of her face from the sweat, and he felt guilt settle over his heart. If she wasn't all right, he would never forgive himself.
He stood up slowly, and turned to face the Emperor and Vader, both of whom stood several feet away, watching him.
"For the second time, you have failed," Luke said. "You have used your only leverage against me, now she's collapsed from the exhaustion. You will not have that chance again, and I intend to keep it that way."
The Emperor stared him down. He had been so proud when Luke had bene mercilessly slashing at the woman he supposedly loved, the same one that he had protected not long ago in this very room. His power was unmatched, and the old Sith Lord would like nothing more than to have that power at his command. Luke would make a powerful ally, no doubt, and he had witnessed it first hand. Now, he stood over the one he loved, protecting her, fully committed to the Light.
It infuriated the Emperor.
"You let your compassion for your friends rule you," he said.
"Anna is not a friend," Luke stated. "She is the one I love."
She was still lying motionless on the floor, but her breathing had evened. He glanced down at her, making sure that she was going to pull through this, all while cursing himself out in his head. He shouldn't have allowed his anger to overtake him like that. She was, after all, one of the best things that had happened to him in the past year, even with all of the tension between the two of them. He felt dread pooling in his stomach, knowing that there was a slim chance that they would be able to get off of the Death Star and live their lives as they were meant to, free from the Empire, fighting for what was good. They would not have to live in fear of anyone chasing them down again, and they could finally be at peace. However, that time would never come, and it tore him apart knowing that he had dragged her into this battle. She did not ask for any of this, sure, she voluntarily came with him to the Death Star even when he strongly advised against it, but it was more than that. He thought back to the first few days, when she had been on the edge of death on Dagobah, fighting with every once of strength she had in order to recover. The moment he had found her, almost completely gone, but he had been the been to save her. In Yoda's house, looking so frail that he had no idea if it was even possible for her to recover. She had looked the same as she did now, lying on her back, weak. He knew that her strength had pulled her through, and he had faith that it would do so again, but he would always live with the memory of the wild slash that had sent her to the ground. He blinked the memory away.
He apologized to her over and over in his head, then stood to face the Emperor and Vader once again.
"She is of no use to you anymore," he said.
"As long as she breathes, she is a threat," the Emperor said. "You're much the same, boy. The only difference between the two of you is that you stand, and she falls."
He glanced down at her still form once again. I'm sorry, he thought to himself. Nothing he could ever say would make him forgive himself. Guilt was still settled firmly in the pit of his stomach. Would she ever forgive him for what he did? He had almost killed her after all, even when deep down, he had known the truth the entire time. She did not know of her sister, should she even exist, until she was brought here. There was no reason for her to hide that from him, as she had spilled her heart out to him on more than one occasion. He had thought that he was the only one who knew her story, but there was one other that did, and he stood a few feet away, watching.
"You will not turn her," Luke said boldly. "You will not turn anyone."
The Emperor laughed sinisterly. "You are far too invested in your friends to realize that they make you weak," he said. "You make your weakness so obvious."
"As do you," Luke retorted, knowing that he needed to tread lightly. He would willingly give himself up in order to save her, especially after what had just happened, but he needed more time. He needed to make sure that she was okay. He knelt back at her side once again, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead. She was cooling down, but she would not wake up any time soon, not without help. He didn't want her to be jolted out of her induced state, and instead clasped his hand around her own, unresponsive one that lay on the floor next to her head. Begging her to come back to him wasn't going to help now, but he could certainly comfort himself in the time it would take for her to return to consciousness, however long that took.
The Emperor pressed his lips into a thin line, still agitated about the end result of both duels he had witnessed. He wanted to say something more, but he could see that the young Jedi's mind was made up. Luke would never embrace the Dark side, not for long at least. He did so unknowingly, and was always brought back by something. Never would he turn against his friends, or the one he loved, even though it made him powerful. The Emperor knew then that there was only one option that remained. And it wasn't the one he had hoped to exercise.
Oh dear god this chapter was a monster. Fighting, emotion, lies; it was a real tough one to figure out, but I got through it. It's also the longest chapter in this entire story, over 4k words (the second longest is chapter 20)
So hopefully my lightsaber combat writing wasn't too bad. I'm still figuring out a style that I like for my fight scenes, so I'll probably revise this a bit more once I figure it out.
Only 3 more chapters and then we're all done aaa