As far as F can remember, they've been taught to cherish and protect life; they must be ready for conflict.
Her mask epitomizes this, with its blue markings meant to exude one's spirit as a true warrior. Before the Jedi, her old culture taught that once one has proven themselves by mastering the blade and strengthening their will enough to face death itself, they were to be bestowed songsteel. It is a scarce, lightweight metal infamous for its sheer indestructibility and can only be wielded by Force users. While the best smiths in the galaxy couldn't change it, any Force user could refine and shape the metal into whatever they wished, like armor, rings, or shoes. As a child, F believed songsteel was magic like her gift, remembering how it almost felt alive the first time holding it.
Once bestowed with songsteel and faced with an evitable battle, they don their mask and are no longer their old selves, who cling to life. You detach from all that and become a warrior. While a warrior dedicates to a code of honor, modesty, compassion, and duty to others, the warrior must be as intimidating as their mask and be willing to lay down their life at any moment.
F tries to set her mind on this before confronting this formidable new Sith.
Episode 16: The Duel
The two duelists stood perfectly still on the muddy battlefield whilst the thick thundering trumpets of battle raged all around. Lighting flashes, causing rain to pour across the region, and these droplets evaporate upon hitting the lightsabers of both combatants. F can feel the steel gaze of this Sith, sensing her mind is prepared to throw the first strike at any moment. The quiet click comes from F's heels, subtly redirecting Force energy into them, causing them to shift while a tiny yellow light is emitted. At the same time, the Inquisitor takes a small step, and F's eyes widen upon locating a brief exposure in the Inquisitor's defenses.
F charges forward at blinding speed, becoming a blur to the eye for a split second and swinging her lightsabers. There's a bright flash as lightsabers smash into one another, F grunts trying to push both her lightsabers forward, now locked in a struggle against the Inquisitor's blade. Her opponent's proven to wield impressive strength, holding back F's sabers and raising as she pushes back, her shadow looming over the Jedi. F breaks the clash by leaping over the Inquisitor, swinging with her left quickly, but the Inquisitor deflects it, spinning her blade as she faces F and charges after her.
A rainbow of colors swirls, the inquisitor's red blade striking F's violet and yellow sabers, each strike reverberating a powerful sound. At the same time, the air around them pushes anything within their vicinity. F is on the back foot, but the blade work behind her defenses is perfectly executed, treating the lightsabers not as two weapons but as one. The Inquisitor, too, was far from an amateur, but her foe wasn't the best duelist she had ever seen, and her attacks were coordinated and deadly. 'She's reveling from this,' F thought as she parried a swing and spotted a protrusion of rock behind her. She backflips behind this rock, cutting it in half and Force pushing it at the Inquisitor. Despite its lumbering size, the sheer power behind it sent it hurtling at fast speeds and catching the inquisitor off guard. The impact was brutal as the Inquisitor was struck by the boulder and collided with an abandoned bunker. F catches herself smirking, her hands feeling cold again.
"Ahhh," the Inquisitor says, pushing the debris off her and cracking her neck. F noticed her armor's dented, taking the brunt of the damage for the Inquisitor, who said, "Am I sensing that I'm not the only one enjoying this?" F doesn't entertain her with a response and reignites her weapons. "Quiet type, eh? Fine, let's continue playing," the Inquisitor said, the tone of her remark suggesting a wide smirk beneath that black glass helmet.
This time, both charged forward, the sound of plasma rippling as F attempted to overpower her foe with quick strikes to the legs and body. The Inqusitor's defenses were shockingly effective, so F used her speed to sidestep a counterattack and attacks from behind, but she anticipated F's move and thrust from behind. F bends backward, dodging the red blade that scraps the tip of her mask. The inquisitor engages, forcing F to retreat and defend herself against the succession of fast attacks. Each one tries to wound a critical area like her knee, abdomen, or heart, but F shows this Inqusiitor her dueling prowess by deflecting each one.
As her master taught her, F entered a rhythm from the Inquisiotor's attacks. In this dance of death, F did not let her partner's power intimidate her into messing up. She's focused on her routine, letting the harmony of the Force keep her mind steady, even as the dark side brims from her opponent. 'Patience, wait for an opening,' F thought, her eyes focused on blocking an upward slash while spotting for any opening to reveal itself. She blinks in surprise at an exposed part of her right arm, and instead of deflecting the next attack, F uses both blades to block and lock blades with the Inquisitor.
F planned to use one of her sabers to slide it down to the Inqusiitor's arm, but her foe had other tricks up her sleeve. Gasping as she pulled out a vibro-blade, thrusting for her throat. Keeping the red lightsaber restrained, F reverses the grip on her lightsaber and braces her right arm against the Inquisitor's gauntlet. Even as the crossguard of her lightsaber burned the gauntlet, her foe struggled to try to inch the blade closer to its target. The Force energy reverberating from their struggle created a whirlwind, throwing mud, rock, and debris below them. It was as if a sudden windstorm was concentrated over them. F's heels dig into the mud as the Inquisitor's power tries to overwhelm her.
"One thing's for sure," the Inquisitor grunts, "I see why the Sith wants a brat like you off the board. You're the most annoying Jedi to kill so far."
F channels more energy to her right foot, the light from her heel glowing brighter and supporting her balance, launching a forward kick. A guttural sound emits from the Inquisitor as the sharp, touch tip of F's heel strikes her chin. Staggering back, she tries to throw a wild bisecting strike, but F flips over its wide swing and, with this momentum, hurls a hard-hitting reverse roundhouse kick. The kick's power cracked the Inqusitor's glass visor, spinning her body off the ground and hurling her a few feet away.
F catches her breath; it's been a while since she incorporated Hitoshi's martial arts into a duel as intense as this. To her disappointment, the Inquisitor picked herself back up, though not as fast as before. "Magnificent!' she coughs, a bit of blood leaking from the cracks, "your strength has gotten you this far, but how long will it last you? You can't hold back your power forever."
"Don't need it," F answered with resolve.
The Inqusitior chuckles, a pained tone to her voice, "I thought that once too…and it nearly cost my sanity!" She thrashes her fists to the earth, releasing bottled-up anger to fuel her power. F sensed nothing but pain within this Sith, the cracks of her sanity more apparent than anticipated. The Inquisitor grips her weapon, "The dark side saves you. Sustains you. Destroys your enemies. Look what it's done for me."
F tenses upon sensing that reek of darkness, "You're sick."
"No, I'm toward becoming unstoppable to my enemies," she declares proudly, shrouding her desperation. "Once my master unlocks my potential, I'll destroy the Empire for all they've done to me!"
"Destroy it?" She knew the Sith always searched for power to best their masters, but this went a whole other level. "Aren't you Sidious's assassin, like Ventress was?"
The inquisitor pauses momentarily, then chuckles, palming her helmet. Her reply was curt, "You truly don't know anything." She bows mockingly, "I'm the Thirteenth Inquisitor. We are tasked to hunt down prey like you. So hide and fight all you want, for even if you win today, another will chase you to the ends of the galaxy!"
F is motionless, a guttural feeling of unease rising as dread strikes her mind. 'Thirteenth…there's more like her?!' she thought. A great weight of horror threatens to overtake her thoughts upon realizing there exist many more dangerous and sadistic agents of the dark side. It wasn't a possibility she gave much thought to. It was terrible enough to have the Empire hunting her, but now to hear that numerous dark siders were after Jedi too?
She couldn't believe it; she didn't want to believe it. "Your lying," she vehemently refutes, "the Order knew all of Tyrannus's Sith agents. We'd had known any Inquisitors the Sith trained."
The Inquisitor ignites her weapon, coldly saying, "Who said I came from Tyrannus or that I'm a Sith?"
F senses a sudden upsurge of energy from the Inquisitor and steps back. "What are you?"
Her foe spreads her arms, a subtle but visible green aura coating her body, "Let me show you by holding nothing back!" The earth trembles as a resurgence of the dark side comes from the Inquisitor, seemingly not stopping.
F shields her eyes from such a force, digging her heels to avoid losing her footing. 'Such power!' F maintained her courage but the onslaught of fear and hate from the Inquisitor's strange power tested her resolve. It nearly made her quiver until her enemy lunged forward, igniting another blade from her lightsaber. F blocks both red blades in time, lurching back when the Inquisitor thrusts her masked face so close that F can see her reflection. Vaulting backward, F blocks each strike from the double-bladed lightsaber, but Inquisitor's enhanced power rattles her wrists from each deflect performed. The speed and ferocity of the Inquisitor felt like it doubled in power, and a part of F worrying if this was even her full power.
Her foe thrusts an attack, and F stops it by locking the blade with her lightsabers. She glances at a large rock behind the Inquisitor, using her mind to propel it at her enemy. Just then, the Inquisitor lunges her arm to where the rock is coming, shattering it with the Force. She thrusts her arm forward, launching a slab of rock below them for F's stomach. The air was knocked out of F, now thrown several yards away, before crashing down with a loud thump. She'd landed where the fighting was still going, a company of Insurgents around a trench line while a large battalion of TK troopers advanced with an AT-AT.
"Jedi?!" She hears Saw's and Isval's voices exclaim. F gasps for breath, struggling to block incoming blaster fire until the Insurgent return fire. Mortars pummel the imperial battalion as Isval launches a rocket at the side of the AT-AT. "This way!" Saw orders, waving at her. However, F knew she wasn't going anywhere with them when she sensed the Inquisitor quickly approaching. She turns to see dozens of small pieces of debris rise from the ground and propel at her.
F cuts through the hail of projectiles, twirling her left blade while slashing with her right, practically forming a plasma shield. "Saw, retreat!" F warns them as the Inquisitor appears out of the smoke and rain. Some Insurgents didn't hear or listen. A dozen men charged and fired at the Inquisitor, but she easily deflected back each shot by activating a mechanism that made her blades twirl at intense speeds. F gasps at such an intimidating feature while several shots are repelled back at the Insurgents, killing them.
"She's too strong!" Isval shouts while Saw whistles to the company to retreat. F slices through the last projectile before narrowly blocking an attack from the swirling blades. A piercing glare across her face as the Inquisitor tried to overpower her.
The Inquisitor asks F, "Did that make you angry, Jedi?" F tries to ignore her, focusing on the approaching AT-AT to their main line. "Admit it," the Inquisitor says, "you did well masking your fear, but you'll never win until you tap into your true power."
F indeed feels the power in her, the one seeking vengeance against all agents of the dark side, Sith or not. That part of her wanted this Inquisitor dead more than anything, but F was trained well to know such power will have everlasting consequences. "You talk too much," F scoffs, leaping to the top of the walker to destroy it and buy Saw's group more time to retreat safely. She grabbed a leftover thermal detonator and began cutting the top of the AT-AT's main body but was stopped when the Inqusitor lungs to attack.
F parries the attack as the two combatants duel on top of the AT-AT. The two were on equal footing amidst the trembling of the walking tank. The Inquisitor tries kicking F over, but F uses her heels to latch onto the AT-AT magnetically. Caught by surprise, the Inquisitor throws a powerful Force wave, but the Jedi vaults over it and lands behind her. F slashes her back, the first clean hit since the duel started. The Inquisitor falls over, and F uses the Force to throw her further away. 'That likely destroyed her armor,' F thought, quickly finishing this job by cutting open the AT-AT and tossing the detonator inside.
She leaps away as it begins to explode. In free fall, she spots a slab of metal flying dead ahead. F slashes it but realizes too late it was a distraction, and a heavy log of wood lunges from behind and collides with her. She's hurled many yards from this hit, straight towards the dense patch of forest amidst the large field. F lands into one of the tall, otherworldly trees, slightly softening the landing.
F notices how half the trees were thin and weak, dead from a lack of nutrition or after reaching the end of their life cycle. The other half were very tall and possessed dense, thick luminescent leaves. Altogether, they created a soft red glow that caused the mist and rain to appear like a red cloud coating the forest floor. Somewhere in this cloud, F could sense the Inquisitor's power nearby, a power that brought doubt in her. F then notices she dropped her violet lightsaber while falling and begins leaping from tree to tree, searching for it.
'I faced powerful Force users before with Hitoshi and Sagiso, but nothing like what's fueling this Inqusisitor,' F thought, noting how the Inquisitor's mental state appeared off, borderline deranged. Such a state of mind causes one to make mistakes and to be unfocused. The times they caught her off guard prove that much. Unfortunately, that was her most apparent advantage. F never stopped training, and Hitoshi was practically the best the Order had to offer, but the unpredictability of this Inquisitor was throwing her off. It didn't help that this dark agent was highly skilled in the Jedi Arts, practically on par with a Jedi Knight, if but an unrefined one.
"You'll never win until you tap into your true power." the Inquisitor told F. Even now, she was concentrating on quelling the fire in her from growing out of control. She could've hurled that first boulder with even more intensity and possibly would've crusted the Inquisitor to death, but it would've meant tapping into the dark side. F had opportunities to Force choke her or tap into the fury within to amplify her strikes, but all would mean betraying all they and their family stood for.
"There must be another way to vanquish her," F whispered, spotting the glint of the violet lightsaber within the forest's red grass. She quickly checks for any sign of the Inquisitor before reaching out to the Force, expecting the saber to return to her hand. However, whilst in midair, a presence is sensed, and a black shadow whizzes between F and the lightsaber. "No!" F gasped, a sting to her heart as the kyber's violet light faded away, its luminance returned to the Force. Their position is now exposed, F tries to leap off the tree, but it quickly begins to shatter with many tiny spikes hurled at F.
She cuts as many as she can, wincing from the few that got past her and shredded the edges of her Kosode robes and Hakama. She lands and dodges the tree toppling over, her eyes quickly darting around, searching for the Inquisitor in the thick red mist. Her heart races until briefly stopping, feeling her neck tingling, and F narrowly ducks the Inquisitor's blades thrown at her. The weapon cuts down another tree before disappearing in the mist, and F dodge rolls away.
"Your compassion for these weaklings will be your undoing, Jedi," the Inquisitor's voice echoes across the forest, F still unable to sense them.
'Even if she is suppressing her presence, I should still feel something," F thought, wiping her eyes but still not seeing anything.' What's wrong with my senses?' A wicked crackle in the air snaps F out of her thought, her grip on her lightsaber tightening as she senses her fear growing. Suddenly, she senses a dead log coming out of the midst. F cuts it in half but misses a slab of rock that snuck off from behind. She rolls on the grass, back aching as the floor trembles, and begins to sprint.
"That's right, run!" the Inquisitor's mad cries ripple through the air. "Run away like the coward you are!"
F dashes through a winding grove as random projectiles like logs, rocks, and crystals are lunged at her. She ducks, dodges, and cuts past each one until a long rock wall suddenly jettisons from the earth and blocks F's path. She lunges a kick and, through the Force, shatters a hole to leap through. F spots a dark silhouette ahead and is blown through the hole by a powerful Force wave that shatters the wall. "Disappointing…" the Inquisitor said. F retrieves her lightsaber, hurrying to hide beneath some shrubs and dead wood, still unable to detect the Inquisitor.
"You're a coward who's scared of their own shadow!"
F ducks down at the enemy's voice, sounding like it is getting closer. She could feel her heart racing a mile a minute, trying to think of any way to overcome this Inquisitor whose power was now fully unleashed. Terror, manifested by the dark side, wrapped its claws around F's throat. 'You're letting her get to you,' she tries to rationalize, 'you can beat her…but how?!' She feels her breath turn cold, the temptations whispering to her ears. So prevalent was it that she clasps her hands over her ears. 'Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge….'F recites the code, trying to rebalance their heart.
A powerful tremor is felt as the Inquisitor hurls large debris closer to F's position. "All that power, and you waste it away!"
'Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony,' F continues, feeling the dark closing in.
"But I guess that's expected of Jedi. Only a weak amateur like you could've been taught by a senile master!"
F stops and clenches her fist.
The Inquisitor sneers, "I sense I struck a nerve, Jedi? Then perhaps you should know what we did to all the bodies and lightsabers at your once grand temple."
F's eyes ignite a furious yellow upon activating her lightsaber.
"We threw them all into a glorious fire!" the Inquisitor chirped, "the masters, the younglings, all your family. We burn them all asunder and pondered their crystals to dust, just like we'll do to you!"
"Never!" A roar amplified by the Force rocks the whole forest, causing even cracks beneath the Inqusitor's feet. She stumbles from this earthquake of anger and vengeance, her eyes darting around, seeing something zip by in the midst at lightning speed. She's too late to block a slash to her lower abdomen. It was not too deep, but it left a garish, burning mark that inflicted excruciating pain.
She barely blocks an incoming leaping strike from F, giving a terrifying scowl to her enemy, wanting nothing more but to destroy their enemy for vengeance. Each blow from F's golden blade was faster and harder, the Inquisitor holding her ground only because of her double-bladed saber's unique defensive properties. "Finally making this fun for me," the Inquisitor goads, but F doesn't acknowledge her. In fact, at that moment, the Inquisitor almost didn't believe her own words.
Lightsabers boom from each strike, each swing and dodge faster than the last. F switches from two-handed to one, parrying the Inquisitor's rotating blades and hurling a powerful Force push. The inquisitor is smashed through rock and wood, cracking ribs and breaking her glass visor to reveal green human eyes beneath the mask. She gasps to see F dashing towards them, haphazardly unleashing her Force wave, shattering the trunks of several dead trees.
To her horror, F just takes the brunt of the attack! The padawan is barely slowed as the intense wave blows away her black cloak and tears the left half of her white robes. F steps on a running river stream, using the Force to launch a mighty wave of water at the Inquisitor, washing her away into a tree that barely doesn't break. F doesn't let her catch her breath, rage nearly overwhelming her senses as she launches at the Inquisitor. F's attacks are narrowly blocked, and her enemy's defenses weaken, a look of utter fear in her eyes just from looking at F's mask.
The Inquisitor kicked F in the chest, activating her spinning blades, and swung wildly at the padawan. However, F deflects each strike at such intense speeds. Then, the Inquisitor's lightsaber explodes in a startling display of skill as F cuts the Inquisitor's lightsaber in half. The sheer shock leaves the Inquisitor momentarily defenseless, then F slices her enemy's exposed eye. The Inquisitor falters to the ground, and F holds her lightsaber to the fallen enemy's neck. F pants, their body still burning from the dark side's power, now telling her to vanquish this unforgivable warrior.
"W-wait…" the Inquisitor pleads meekly, reaching out her hand. "Let me go…please…."
F couldn't believe the audacity of this Inquisitor. "After all you monsters did to the Jedi…you beg for mercy? Where was this mercy for my master?" F said with chilling fury. "Where was it for the younglings? Didn't they deserve mercy?!" Her hands shake as their anger dissipates, suddenly overcome with intense loneliness, "why…was I the only one? They deserved mercy, not me."
The Inquisitor's hand stops trembling, and a devilish smirk forms as she pulls back, lunging an ignited lightsaber that pieces F's lower abdomen. A sharp gasp escapes the shocked padawan. Her intense fury and sadness have made her overlook the other half of the Inquisitor's lightsaber. F holds back a sharp hiss as she grabs and deactivates the blade, crushing the blade with the Force. This was all a distraction, however. The Inquisitor grabbed her remaining lightsaber and struck F's mask.
The songsteel protected her from another horrific scar on their face, but as a result, the mask was now torn off, exposing her terrible scar to the world, to this Inquisitor. F feels the scar burn as she tries to shield it with her hand, but the Inquisitor Force pushes her against a tree. Restrained, F could do nothing to stop her greatest fear from happening. The Inquisitor stumbles back up and raises her lightsaber, "Like I said…cowardly and weak." She peeks closer and sees a vague mark on F's right cheek, "Ahh, didn't escape unscathed, huh? Perhaps a closer look is in order. I wanna remember your failure."
F mind panics as the Inquisitor tries forcing her to turn her head. Shutting her eyes, the Inquisitor almost got a complete look at the scar until a cold breeze sent shivers down the Inquisitor's spine. She jumps back as a whirlwind blows behind F. The air was now so cold that the Inquisitor saw her breath and ice formed on trees and rocks. The dark agent realizes she lost control over F before her arms and torso twist, unable to fight back as a dark force painfully bends her body. "What…is this…power?"
She only felt such dark power from one other dark side user. While he was far more destructive, F's dark potential was no less terrifying. She's forced to her knees as F grabs and latches on her mask, revealing her eyes now a piercing dark black with her soft blue irises replaced with striking yellow. F's dark glare made the Inquisitor tremble, then she spoke in an aloof, eerie stoic tone, "Who's weak now?" F throws the Inquisitor against a boulder with a finger flick, utterly helpless as F raises her arm high. A nearby dead tree is torn off, and the tip of its branches quickly chipped off as the tip is sharpened.
Aiming the long tree for the Inquisitor, F raises her voice, "Who's cowardly now?!" The Inquisitor could do nothing but watch the tree hurled at her, shutting her eyes and expecting to be eviscerated instantly. A second passes, then another, before the Inquisitor opens her eyes to see the tip of the tree inches from her head. F indeed lunged thier hand forward, but the instant the attack would've killed thier foe, they grabbed thier arm to stop it.
"No…" she said in their normal voice, "I can't…let it end like this." She struggled to regain control, but this only intensified the pain in her head and heart, the dark side trying to consume her entirely. F falls to her knees, clenching her head while her left eye flickers from blue to yellow. "Hitoshi…wouldn't want this."
'He's dead because of monsters like her! Do you think the Force wants her to live? Why her but not our master!?'
/-/-/-/-/-/-/
F struggled, soon finding herself in a dark mindscape of nothing but water. She was drowning, the darkness of the abyss sinking her further down, promising all the power she needed to vanquish the Sith. All F has to do is relinquish her destiny forever to the dark. 'I…' F defiantly thought, the light in her eyes barely alight, 'won't fail you…my family.'
F sees a green glow in the distant water surface—the green butterfly from all those times ago. The warmth of the light began warding away the dark. Despite how tempting the colossal shadows are with their promises of power, it always sinks away if even a sliver of light decides to stand before them. F was always taught the dark side was lies and deception, but seeing it now was a true revelation to them. The green butterfly dives deeper, eventually taking on a human form, a human woman with stunning green eyes.
'It… was you,' F thought, recognizing's the woman roughly around her age.
This old master reaches her hand for F's, "The world always seems terrifying and isolating in the dark," she communicated to F's mind. "I know how easy it feels to sink further into the shadows, but true strength comes from pushing forward."
F stares at her hand before gripping it with renewed vigor.
A warm, comforting smile forms on the master's face. Countless orbs of light floated around the two, illuminating the deep river until the darkness returned to where it came from. "The light of the Jedi shines within you now, F," she said, gazing at the light around them. "They'll always be with you. So don't let hate make you fight for us. Let love make you fight for all living things."
F stares into the old master's eyes and nods dutifully.
"Then your trials have officially begun, padawan," the master said before the light from her and F's hand shone brighter than ever.
F gets one last look at their savior, seeing many other faces in the watery distance. "Thank you…Master Lily."
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
F sharply inhales upon returning to the material world, and her eyes return to a soft blue. Her shadow tries stretching out over her with its terrible form and power. However, a soft, warm wind makes all this power impotent, and F's darkness fades in a quiet hush. She clutched her chest, knowing the dark was still there, timidly retreating into the crevices of her heart. Her dark cloak flutters back to her hands, her shield against the dark, and F dons it and ignites her lightsaber, for her foe wasn't finished yet.
"Die, freak!" the Inquisitor shouts, lunging in desperation. A calm air surrounded F as she deflected the strikes. Her heart contains the dark and maintains a steady balance as the light within shines radiantly. She no longer allowed her power to be like a violent storm but rather a warm flow of a mighty river. F glides across the air as the Inqusitor presses on, leaping from tree to tree while maintaining a stoic, calm look in her determined eyes. Great power and threat still existed in her foe. Even in her wounded state, the Inquisitor was dangerous and needed to be stopped. F was going against the flow of the Force in this fight for too long. She had to prove to herself that the tranquility of the light was stronger than any darkness.
The Inquisitor lunges dirt to her eyes, trying to blind her and go for a killing blow. However, thier was a move of a coward and amateur. All children of the Force don't need eyes to see. F deflects several forward and behind strikes, letting the Force guide her in protecting one of the last lights of the Jedi. She dodges a kick and gracefully uses the Force to blow her foe away. She gasps upon sensing the fire of burning wood from their duel is lunged from behind. She stretches out her palm, dispersing the intense fireballs to nothing, but the Inqusitor flashes behind F, aiming for her neck. "You're mine!"
In a burst of maniacal laughter, the Inquisitor swings at the Jedi's neck; time seems to slow at the intense heat of plasma, seemed it will hit its target and end this Jedi's destiny. So it came as a great shock and awe to the Inquisitor when her blade suddenly stopped in its tracks, never to touch the Jedi again. "Impossible!" she exclaimed, witnessing F stop the blade with the Force, her left hand hovering over the trembling blade while staring back at her dead in the eyes.
F frees her right hand, shoving the palm of it at the Inqusitor's chest to unleash a mighty Force push. The Inquisitor skids to a stop, her lightsaber not before F's heels before they kicked it forward. "What happens next is up to you," F said calmly, completely controlling her tone and posture. The Inqusitior uses the Force to return the blade to her hands, igniting it and entering a fighting stance. F sighs, but instead of brandishing her lightsaber, she whips out a small knife made of songsteel.
'They're mocking me!' the Inquisitor thought, 'they have just a pesky knife…so why…?' She stared into F's eyes, tearing up just from seeing how controlled they were in their power with a perfect fighting stance, waiting for her to make the first move. 'Why can't I stop trembling?!'
The lightsaber falls out of her hands, and the Inquisitor falls to her knees, defeated.
F takes a deep breath, looking down at thier inherited knife, the first weapon they were ever bestowed, the weapon they first use to practice defending themselves. "Then it is over," F said, putting away the songsteel knife and grabbing her lightsaber. "Return to the shadows where your master awaits. Tell them I no longer fear what dark powers they possess."
Before F could walk away, the Inquisitor began manically muttering to herself. "I won't go back," she whispered before all she could repeat was, "I can't go back! I can't go back! I can't go back!"
Though it is wise to save such emotions for those deserving of it, F couldn't help but feel pity for the increasingly distressed woman. "You don't have to," she advises, though it took much effort to say it. "You can find a place to hide. If any ships are left, you can stowaway on-" F stops, quickly realizing their advice wasn't reaching her.
The Inquisitor frantically cried and scratched her shattered helmet as she had a mental breakdown. "She'll never free me now! He'll find me! Make the pain worse! Make everything hurt!"
Before F could further reason with her, she caught the Inquisitor staring at the tattered lightsaber, and a dreaded realization struck the both of them. "Wait!" F exclaimed, but it was too late, and she could only look away as the Inqusitor stabbed herself in the heart. She didn't gasp or cry from the self-inflicted stab but felt, at last, peace and collapsed to the ground. F grabs her and senses all the fear of further pain and suffering. She didn't want to know such hurt again, even if it cost her humanity or her life. F couldn't do anything for the fallen now. They could grab her hand and whisper, "No more pain….you can rest now."
The Inquisitor's breathing steadies, becoming fainter. She looks to F, softly whispering with sincerity but also a warning, "You're…too kind."
F nods, gripping the Inquisitor's hand before it falls limp. The light in her eyes darkens, and she becomes one with the Force. "May the Force be with you," F whispers, gently placing down her body to rest in this now serene, quiet meadow. The intense, ominous red mist changed to a soft blue. However, one thing did disturb the harmony of this place and that was the Inquisitor's broken saber.
F feels a pull from it but it isn't the dark side radiating from it but something else. She carefully touches it in a flash, witnessing a vision of all that's happened to this Inquisitor.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/
F snaps open her eyes, the vision taking her to an underground chamber, the walls covered with runes and supplies boxes with republic markings. She looked down at her hands, in awe that her whole body was glowing luminous blue. "Thanks for coming with us, Captain Aldon," a familiar voice echoes in the distance. Turning the corner, F spots a clone captain moving a large box with a girl around F's age with orange hair, pale skin, and grey Jedi robes. Her eyes had a tired look, and a scar from a battle was visible on the padawan's hand.
The clone shrugs, "What are friends for?"
"Careful, my student," a woman's voice said, a Rodian Jedi master. F wasn't expecting her, and the vision phases through her. It was such an odd feeling, almost like a ghost. F noticed the padawan was using the Force to lift many crates simultaneously, much to her strain. "I know I told you this will make good practice, but know your limits," the master continued.
The padawan huffs in annoyance, dropping the crates with little care. Her master approaches, a concerned look in her eyes and whispering what troubles the student. "I just wanna be done with this blasted planet," the padawan mutters, "I wanna forget not being strong enough."
"Aelia," the master said, catching's F's attention, "I know how much it hurts to lose such a close friend. He will be remembered forever in the Order. I lost many old friends from this cursed war. However, letting yourself lose control of your emotions completely won't help bring them back, nor will seeking further power bring peace or stop the pain."
"Is the war gonna be over?"
"I believe so,"
F sees a cold, distant stare from Padawan Aelia, "Good. After yesterday, I never want to see another battle again." F didn't understand why she was being shown this random padawan. What could be the connection between her and the Inquisitor? An eerie echo comes behind F, seeing the clone take out a device that projects a shadowy figure.
"Sidious," F whispers.
"Master? What's wrong?" Aelia asks, her master suddenly suffering an intense headache. F knew this was all in the past. She can do nothing but watch history repeat itself. It still brought immense sadness to helplessly watch the clone grab several thermal detonators and face the Jedi. The padawan, confused and afraid, asked, "Aldon?"
"For the Emperor..."
The clone activates the bombs and is disintegrated in an explosion that causes the whole tunnel system to collapse. Aelia is shoved out of the way and only has a few pieces of debris land on her. She's out for a while, opening her eyes to see her master crushed beneath tons of rock. "Master Jain…" Aelia cries, covered in the purple blood of her master, "This can't be happening."
"I'm detecting one signature down there!" a distant clone voice shouts above.
F watches Aelia scramble away, desperately using the Force to break and push tons of rock away. "Get away...GET AWAY!"
F is transported to a stormy night above ground and surrounded by rows and rows of dead clones in a blink of an eye. She squats down, noticing numerous lightsaber marks on them, resulting ins many losing limbs and some completely decapitated. A scream erupts in the distance, and F witnesses Aelia stabbing a clone through the chest. Her robes were tattered, her hair messy, and face stained with tears while carrying a furious glare in her eyes. "For Jain, traitor," she snarled, ripping out the lightsaber, and the clone collapsed to her feet.
'She's consumed by the dark,' F noted, seeing Aelia slice down any remaining clone for revenge on her fallen master.
"Weak copies," Aelia hisses, "I'll kill you all…!"
After the last clone has fallen, a ship appears out of the distance, shining a bright light on the padawan. F feels a great chill as the shuttle lands, and a figure cloaked in dark armor and robes approaches Aelia. He wore a terrifying mask helmet, and his breathing was cold, mechanical, and filled with malice.
"Vader…" F whispers. It came out of nowhere. F wondered how she knew his name or why she spoke before realizing the Vision was informing her of this Sith Lord.
Vader looks at the bodies and the padawan responsible for the mass slaughter, "Impressive." The padawan goes after the Sith but Vader easily dodges Aelia's dark side-fueled attacks. He stopped her in just one move, lifting her up with the Force as she struggled to free herself from his iron grip. "Most impressive…"
The scenery changes again, F standing in a dark hallway with red lights above. She senses great darkness everywhere, wandering down the hall until she's startled by a terrible sight. Jedi Master Jain, what's left of her, frozen in an orange amber-like substance and displayed like she was just some ornament or trophy. "No! Why does the Sith need her body? What's going on?" F mutters, feeling sick when a scream ripples down the hall.
F runs down, seeing more and more dead Jedi displayed in the halls in these amber encasings. She glances right and, for a moment, sees themselves in one of the cases. F stopped to look back again but It wasn't her, just another unfortunate Jedi, just her imagination. Still, the mere thought of their body being a trophy or worse to the Sith was an absolutely dreadful, horrifying thought that shook them to their core. F clenches her arms, rattled with fear of their body being used by the Sith, of this being her fate.
"Focus…don't get lost in the dark. Know no fear," she whispers to herself, continuing to run until reaching a torture room. Aelia was trapped in a horrible torture device, slowly lowering her to a wall of jagged spikes and electronic parts, radiating intense heat.
"Your master's midiclorians will serve our lord for a long time," a pale Pau'an male, which the Vision told F was a Grand Inquisitor, walks out of the shadows. "I suppose there are fates worse than death. You, however, will be spared of such a pitiful ending. No, we have another purpose."
Aelia said distressingly, "What is this?!" Fear and despair fully ensnared her heart.
"Pain," the grand Inquisitor smiles, "and after today, we will make you wish you died in that tunnel."
F shuts her eyes as Aelia is subjected to the horrors of this torture, releasing a piercing scream before suddenly stopping. F opens her eyes to a different scene. Aelia was cladded in Inqusitior armor with her hand cut off. Recognizing the armor and helmet, F comes to a shocking realization. "That Inquisitor…was a Jedi?" She looks around the training room, seeing many other Inquisitor faces and sensing how each of them was once a proud Jedi. Now, all were twisted into dark slaves of the Sith. "All these Inquisitors are dark Jedi?!"
F sees Vader approach Aelia, his red lightsaber ignited, and is responsible for chopping off Aelia's hand. "A year later, still a weakling. Every failure must be met with more pain, Inquisitor," he said, "next time, it will be an eye, then an arm, and then a leg. Do I make myself clear?"
Aelia stops the tears and bows her head, "Yes...master." F looks down at the padawan, seeing her own reflection against the glass visor.
"Know this from now on," Vader continued, " your power is my power," Vader continued, "any grab for more power shall mean the ultimate consequence. You will remain this way until you live out your use."
"Yes...Lord Vader," Aelia mutters. Though her mind broke under the torture, a piece of her hides a look of sheer fury beneath her mask.
F shutters from this stare and is transported to a windy, red desert in the midst of a duststorm. It was an unknown world to F. Two dark silhouettes appear out of the dark after landing a ship down on the planet. It was Aelia, along with another masked Inquisitor. "Another mislead," Aelia said, "there's not even a single lifeform on this barren rock, let alone a Jedi."
"No…" the other Inquisitor said in a distorted voice. F couldn't catch who this could be. "however, there is something for you."
F watches the Inquisitor Force trapping Aelia to a crumbled wall. "You traitor!" Aelia shouts until sensing a dark presence appears. "Powerful..." she mutters when two people, shrouded in dark robes, appear out of the desert storm. The Inquisitor nods to this tall, shadowy figure who approaches Aelia.
F could not decipher their faces or voices, just by what Aelia knew. The figure asks in a whispery voice, "Do you feel weak?"
Aelia's head slumps, "Yes..."
"Why do you feel weak?"
"All this pain," Aelia sobbed, "from the war to Vader...I want it to end..."
"You've let the fear of pain dictate your destiny for too long," the shadowy figure said, stretching out a gloved hand with songsteel red fingertips. The figure pats Aelia's head reassuringly, "But I can end this pain. I can usher freedom from your chains. I can give you power."
"That's…" Aelia whispers, pondering this option, "It's impossible under Vader."
"Do not be afraid," the figure said, raising over Aelia, "those doomed Sith will be dealt with one day." In a snap of a finger, the other shadowy figure stretches out a hand.
F notices its extremely pale and soft green glow radiating around the fingers, a power F finally recognizes from her master's teachings. "Dathomir magick," she whispers, knowing now that this dark master's accomplice was from Dathomir and had mastered the dark arts.
The green mist surrounds Aelia, thrusting itself into her chest, and releases a startled gasp. At first, fear racked her until an emmence satisfaction filled Aelia as more of this strange new power was funneled into her. It abruptly stops, much to Aelia's disappointment. She clutches her chest, the green blow now appearing around her hand. "What...is this feeling?"
"A taste of your new potential future, a future only I can create," the shadowy leader said, "this is but a sliver of the power I can grant you, young acolyte." The leader grabs Aelia's shoulders, standing her up. A pair of piece golden irises gazes at her soul. "All you have to do to learn this power is swear yourself to me."
With tears in her eyes, Aelia falls to her knees and grabs the dark leader's hand, begging her new master, "Teach me!"
The leader smiles, "I will reshape you in time. Return with this Inquisitor and keep an eye on Sidious's new apprentice. Contact me immediately if you encounter any news of a Jedi who dons a mask like mine."
F touches her mask at the mention, startled at how these people could possibly know her, gasping in shock when the cloaked leader suddenly turns to her.
/-/-/-/-/–/-/
F snaps out of the vision, racked with new knowledge and shock of what's become of this Inquisitor, the fallen Jedi Aelia. "Vader…" she utters, remembering his mechanical face while sensing only a sliver of his awesome dark power. Looking down at the lightsaber, F wonders if they never let go of this hate, if they have recklessly gone after revenge for their master's death, that they would've suffered the same fate as this Inquisitor. This Darth Vader wouldn't hunt for them, turn them into another one of his servants, encase their body into a trophy, or make F into another test subject for the empire's twisted machinations. Any of these thoughts nearly petrified F with fear, steadying her heart to not let such thoughts control her.
So long as she embraces the light, she can stand against the empire. A device loudly beeps from Aelia's waist, projecting a dark-cloaked figure before F, who instinctively activates the red lightsaber.
"That color suits you," the dark lady said, pointing at the red lightsaber. She spars only a glance at Aelia, giving a disapproving look before focusing back on F.
"What's the meaning of this?" F asked. "What was all that?"
"A vision, I presume," she said, "what did you see."
"The Inquisitorious…you…and one named Darth Vader, Sidious's new apprentice," F recalled. She looks at the dark lady, "You spoke as if you knew him."
"I'm surprised you don't see it yet."
"See what?"
A smirk forms across the dark lady's shrouded face, "his dark reign began in a pool of blood within the Jedi Temple. Leading the execution of Order 66 in the name of his new master."
F's scar burns, clenching her mask as she remembers the face of the supposed chosen one, the one who slain her master and nearly took her life. "No... he still lives?"
The dark lady reaches out her hand as she once did with Aelia. "You will not survive out there alone. The Empire will find you, and you will suffer how she has suffered."
F feels the burning persist, but despite it, she throws away the red lightsaber, smashing it beneath her feet. "I'm not alone," she declared.
"You won't be if you join us," the dark lady insisted, "she has failed to fulfill her future, to free herself of the Force's will, but you have proven yourself the better warrior. You witnessed what kind of power I can bestow. I can change your destiny. By unleashing your true potential, you can destroy the Sith who scared your soul."
F felt the temptation of the immense dark power trapped within her heart.
"And remember…find the harmony in light, and the Force will always respond."
Hitoshi's words reach F, finding peace with it before grabbing her lightsaber with the Force and destroying the device. The dark lady faded away with a look of displeasure. F tries processing what she just witnessed, what it'll mean for the future of not only her destiny but of the whole galaxy.
"Commander!" Ivy's voice reaches her mask's comms. "All forces have retreated to the base. Hurry back, quickly!"
"Right," F said.
"And the Sith?"
F looks down, "gone," she responded, taking the red kyber crystal with her.
"Good."
F looks at Aelia, Padawan of the Jedi Order, before disappearing in the red mist.
A/N: Well, I hope that turned out as well as I hoped. Took several inspirations for this one, from samurai duels to Wuxia kung fu movies. Also, I'm SOOOO stoked for S2 of Visions! It absolutely looks to be another banger of a season! I do hope we haven't seen the last of the S1 characters and that somehow the success of S2 can mean more content for Visions in other media (which, outside of the Ronin book & original manga coming out, feels very barebones) like books or manga. I'd buy those in a heartbeat.