Chapter 21: Twilight of the Apprentice
We're approaching the end. As I said, I don't want to waste your time and mine by simply making a written version of the show. So I'll try to use Jaral's perspective to lay the ground for future developments, explore what kind of Jedi she will be. Keep in mind that the events happening 'off-page' will be the same you can see in the show.
Except for the 'Inquisitor-choppers'. Those are just ridiculous. Just imagine that the Inquisitors manage to chase the protagonists with conventional means.
The Inquisitors were both surprised and somewhat content to be in front of Maul.
"It's true, then." the Sister said, making her double-bladed saber twirl a bit. "Darth Maul lives."
The Zabrak stepped forward slowly.
"Formerly Darth, now just Maul."
"Ezra, step away from him!" Kanan ordered.
"Kanan, I swear he's on our side." Ezra retorted. Maul simply raised a hand to indicate that he didn't need help to support his position.
"Perhaps my actions will speak louder than words." the Zabrak said. Then he pulled off the top of his cane, revealing that it was actually a part of a double-bladed lightsaber, while the other half was hidden in the cane.
Maul ignited it and immediately jumped nimbly toward the Inquisitors fighting all three of them. His style was extremely aggressive and he wasn't afraid of also using his strong legs (which were actually mechanical) to attack his opponents.
"What are we waiting for?" Ezra exhorted. Kanan and Ahsoka, however, weren't sure if they could lower their guard around Maul. Jaral was just staying behind them, observing the situation.
At one point, Maul and the Seventh were caught in a saber-lock.
"Why would you come here?" the Mirialan asked.
A realization took the Fifth Brother. "He knows of the artifact." he exclaimed before charging Maul.
He was intercepted by Kanan, however. The third Inquisitor (called Eight Brother) attacked from the other side, but was intercepted by Ahsoka.
The two sides stood there in a stalemate, until the Seventh Sister ordered the other Inquisitors to fall back. The Eight Brother shoot some smoke grenades that gave them a moment of truce, necessary to run away from the Jedi and their strange ally.
Maul tried to hit one of them without success, then stood still, watching them running.
"Maul, what game are you playing?" Ahsoka asked in suspicion.
Maul threw away the cane he was holding in his left hand. "The end game, Lady Tano." he said while looking at the top of the temple in front of them.
"I am the enemy of your enemy now, and I have my own reasons for wanting the Empire to fall. But we have little time. The one they call Vader will be here soon."
"How do you know this?" Kanan asked, but it was Jaral who replied.
"Because, most likely, the Inquisitors will inform Vader. Which means that we need to find what we came for and hightail it out of here."
"I think you're talking about this." Ezra said with a smug grin as he took out the sith holocron. The other Jedi looked in a bit of anxiety.
"Me and Maul found it inside that chamber." he said. "This is why we came here, right? Knowledge."
"Ezra, there is no way a Jedi would be able to open that holocron." Ahsoka noted to him.
"But you may unlock the Temple itself." Maul interjected.
"How?" Ezra asked eagerly.
Maul pointed at the summit of the pyramid. "At the top of the temple is a chamber. Connect the holocron to the obelisk within and you can unlock the ancient knowledge of the Sith."
The Jedi stared at each other. Unsure on what to do.
In the end, however, all except Kanan voted to push forward. After all, they already came this far, might as well resolve the mystery entirely.
Maul directed them in front of a small lift placed at a corner of the pyramid and he and Ezra stepped on the small platform which had no security device whatsoever. When Kanan tried to mount on it as well, in order not to leave Ezra with Maul, the old Zabrak shook his head.
"Only two. No more, no less."
"Oh yeah?" Kanan reacted immediately, pushing Maul aside. "These two come as a set." and took place on the lift.
"Wait…" Jaral intervened. "Is that true?" she asked Maul, who nodded in affirmative.
The girl sighed. "Then I guess we separate here."
The Jedi looked at each other. It was true: with Maul, there were five of them, but for good or bad, they needed the old Sith to go with them.
"Are you sure?" Kanan asked.
"I am. Don't worry. I'll stick to the shadows and keep an eye on the surroundings. I'll be ready with the Phantom."
"It's settled then." Ahsoka said.
"Sis...be careful." Ezra added, not happy in having her wander around that place on her own.
"You do the same, bro." the girl concluded as she walked away while activating her cloaking device.
Jaral penetrated deeply into the ruins, using both the Force and her instruments to try and find any trace of the Inquisitors so she could signal them to her companions.
In all honesty, being alone in that place of death was very creepy.
She had faced danger on her own on Lothal's streets before, at times when she and Ezra had to separate to find food or make small jobs as 'street rats', but this was another pair of shoes. If she got discovered by the Inquisitors, she would most likely die. And she was separated from the rest of the group, which only added to her anxiety.
At least, she was the one in contact with Chopper and the Phantom, thanks largely to Jinx. If she needed a pick-up, she could call it in quickly.
She didn't have to wait for long, though. Soon she could feel the presence of the Inquisitors, who were actually trying to find a way to climb up the pyramid, then she spotted them. The Eight Brother had recovered his TIE fighter and was flying toward the temple.
She was about to send a warning on the comlink when she also saw various seeker droids belonging to the Seventh Sister, and decided it would be better to stay quiet. All she could do was to send a sense of danger down her bond with Ezra.
Luckily for her, the droids simply went past her and straight toward the pyramid, in an attempt to intercept the Jedi and Maul.
From her position, Jaral could only partially see what was going on. She could distinguish the clashing of lightsabers and even saw Ahsoka and Kanan fighting against the male Inquisitors.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she perceived that someone was falling down at great speed. She turned in the right direction and saw the figure of the Seventh Sister, rolling and crashing against the slopes of the pyramid, her lightsaber tightly in her right hand, at least until she ended her run on the floor of the city ruins, rolling on her side and then just staying still.
Jaral was just a dozen meters from her. The sensors indicated that the Inquisitor was still alive!
The girl wasn't sure what to do. If she got near her, the woman would most likely kill her, but then she heard a faint moan of pain coming from the motionless body.
Jaral engaged her cloaking device and silently approached the Sister, taking one of her batons in hand and ready to ignite it.
When she arrived there, the show was horrifying: the Sister had a big cut on the left part of the abdomen and ran on all of her hip in an oblique pattern. It was the wound of a lightsaber.
Usually, the wound would cauterize immediately because of the extreme heat of the saber, but the multiple hits she took descending the slope had reopened it, and now the mirialan was losing a lot of blood.
Her expression, though. Her expression was pure fear. She wasn't the cocky and mischievous villain Jaral had seen before. Now the Inquisitor was just a harmless, wounded person, scared for her life.
Jaral searched for the answer inside her, reaching briefly to the Force, and the Light.
She didn't like what the Light asked her to do, but it's not like she would ignore a plead for help.
Jaral disengaged the cloaking device right in front of the Sister, who was laying on her back. The mirialan trembled as she slightly turned her neck to see the blue and light-gray woman in armor and now was gasping, sure that she would die.
Instead, Jaral dematerialized her helmet and looked at her calmly. She knelt and activated her omni-tool.
"I suggest you stay still." she said to the struggling mirialan.
Jaral then used a gift that the fleet of the Milky Way bestowed on her before leaving: a capsule of "Medi-gel". It seemed to be a common item in that galaxy, capable of healing deep wounds, and it was widespread for emergency aid in civilian and military societies.
The girl had received three capsules, but so far she had never had the chance to test them. Jinx quickly calculated that it should work on any humanoid physiology, included the mirialan one.
Jaral gave the command on the omni-tool and put it near the Inquisitor's wound. The girl watched in awe as a strange aura, highlighting the woman's nervous system, surrounded the dark-sider and her cut instantly closed, leaving only a scar.
The Inquisitor loudly gasped as she finally managed to breathe again. She rolled on her belly and slowly, but steadily, managed to sit on her knees.
"You...you helped me?!" the dark-sider asked, absolutely stunned. When Jaral simply nodded, she snarled. "Why?!" she just couldn't understand. Was the girl already so hopelessly imbued with Jedi philosophy?
"It seemed like the right thing to do." the girl simply responded.
The Inquisitor now sat down with her legs laying curved on the floor, her left hand holding where the wound was.
She made a strained, short laugh. "You Jedi...so hellbent on your 'morals'."
"Yes." Jaral calmly said, unfazed by the insult. "And those morals just gave you a second chance."
The mirialan scoffed. "What, you want to turn me to the Light? Redeem me?" she said.
"Oh, no." Jaral surprisingly answered with a playful tone. "You're too much of a bitch for being redeemed."
The Inquisitor was staggered by that. Then she started chuckling. "I should kill you for saying that, but honestly, I don't care anymore." she coughed two times. "You know that none of us will leave this planet anyway?"
"Tell me why." Jaral asked.
The Inquisitor looked at the chamber on top. "Because Maul will trick the boy into activating this temple...no, this battle station."
Jaral now showed a crack in her unfazed expression. Then she looked around, observing the cinder-statues and the ruins of the city.
"Kriff it. Of course! The temple is a super-weapon, the one responsible for all of this."
"You are smart. Then you understand that we're all doomed."
"Not if I have something to say about it." the girl raised and took her comlink. "Chopper, bring the Phantom to my coordinates."
Chopper warbled his answer.
"All right, then. First Kanan, then me, then we reach Ezra and Ahsoka on top." she closed the transmission and turned one last time toward the Sister, who was slowly standing on her feet again.
"As for you, maybe it would be a good idea to get your ship and leave."
"Yeah, right. If I go back to Lord Vader now, I'm as good as dead. Might as well wait for the end here." the Inquisitor said dejectedly.
Jaral used the Force to attract the Inquisitor's lightsaber in her right hand, and brought the hilt in front of her. "Who said anything about going back to Vader?"
The Inquisitor was getting more and more confused. But cautiously took her saber back.
"The way I see it, either you do that, or you take your ship and disappear. The choice is yours."
As she spelled the last word, Jaral used the Force and her muscles to make a high jump and reach a higher level of the ruins, heading toward the rendezvous point. The Inquisitor looked at the strange girl, pondering on what just happened.
After various flights of stairs, Ezra reached the chamber. He wasn't sure if leaving Maul to 'help' Ahsoka and Kanan against the other Inquisitors was the best idea. He himself had almost clashed against Maul when the latter had tried to push him into killing a disarmed Seventh Sister, and it ended up with Maul throwing his saber at her. Ezra managed to divert it with the Force, but the dark-sider was hit nonetheless and had fallen down the pyramid.
Not that Ezra would mourn her death, but still, that wasn't the Jedi way. Maul had insisted that Ezra needed to do what's necessary if he wanted to save his friends, but why should he listen to the old Zabrak? In over two years, Ezra had managed to protect his friends quite well multiple times, without making useless kills.
Right now, he thought, the best thing to do was to get the holocron in position and gain the knowledge before Maul could accomplish whatever he wanted to.
The chamber was distinguished by an endless flux of lines that formed symbols and patterns, all interlocked. Ezra had no idea what they could represent and he probably didn't have time to stop. He took the holocron out of the pouch on his belt and headed straight toward the obelisk, which was levitating at the center of the room, just like the triangular roof was keeping itself in the air without any architectural support.
As he got closer to the obelisk, Ezra felt the holocron being pulled by the structure. The obelisk had an airline crack in the middle, and there was where the holocron was being pulled.
When the pyramidal small object arrived in the center, electricity started crackling from it, as did small lightnings that pushed away the edges of the holocron as a purple flame started to raise into the crack of the obelisk.
Soon, another flux of electricity hit the holocron, which lighted up and started whirring wildly. It was clear that the obelisk was using the device to power-up the entire room.
"Who comes forth?" a female voice asked from the holocron.
"Ezra. Ezra Bridger." the boy answered, trying to keep calm. "I was told this holocron is the key to knowledge."
"Indeed, Ezra Bridger. And do you know what knowledge is?"
"Not quite…"
"Knowledge is power."
Suddenly a shock-wave came out of the obelisk. Ezra covered himself with his arm, but noticed that it didn't harm him. Then the obelisk started to shoot a ray toward the roof, and through a hole in its summit, it reached the skies of the planet.
"What is happening?!" Ezra asked, wavering.
"The power to destroy life is at your command." the voice replied.
"What?! No, that's not what I wanted!"
"Then perhaps the 'other' who approaches will claim it instead."
Ezra looked behind his back, before running toward the side of the structure where the stairs were.
"Guys! It's a trick! Maul wants…"
He was interrupted by a headlight that suddenly bathed his figure and force him to raise his armor to take a better look through the visor.
Then he saw him. Vader, standing over his descending TIE Advanced. His crimson blade ignited and waiting for his ship to bring him near enough to the edge.
Ezra felt the cold surrounding his heart once again. Yet, he grabbed the hilt of his lightsaber and prepared to fight. He fell back further into the chamber, letting the Sith Lord land undisturbed.
"You have unlocked the secret of the Temple." the mechanical voice of Vader said. "How did you accomplished it?"
"You're smart, figure it out." Ezra spat back.
The Sith Lord just threw a blow with the saber, which Ezra parried. The two exchanged another couple of blows. Ezra was being pushed back anytime.
"No matter." Vader simply said. "The power within will soon serve the Emperor."
"I'm not afraid of you." Ezra snarled behind his helmet.
"Then you will die braver than most."
Vader renewed his attack, this time stronger, and quicker. Ezra barely managed to parry three hits, but the fourth one hit the hilt of his lightsaber squarely and pushed him on the ground.
The boy could only watch in fear as the only weapon he had against the Sith laid cut in two on the floor.
The kyber crystal, however, was still intact and peeking out from the lower half. Ezra instinctively grabbed the part of junk with the crystal, though right now it seemed like the possibility of using it again were non-existent.
The boy raised his gaze toward the towering Sith lord, and this time he couldn't hide his fear.
"Perhaps I was wrong." Vader said with a hint of smugness.
He raised his saber, preparing to finish Ezra.
"It wouldn't be the first time." a voice from behind him said loudly.
Vader turned around, and Ezra peeked as well. Ahsoka was standing there, a saber in her left hand and scowling at Vader.
The Sith lord turned around, completely ignoring the boy now.
"It was foretold you would be here. Our long-awaited meeting has come at last." the Sith said.
"I'm glad I gave you something to look forward to." Ahsoka spat back.
Vader deactivated his sword. "We need not be adversaries. The Emperor will show you mercy if you tell me where the remaining Jedi can be found."
Ezra decided that this was the time to at least put some distance between him and Vader and crawled as silently as he could toward the obelisk.
"There are no more Jedi." Ahsoka accused. "You and your Inquisitors have seen to that."
Vader turned again toward Ezra, who stopped in his trail.
"Perhaps this child will confess what you will not."
"I was beginning to believe I knew who you were behind that mask, but it's impossible. My Master could never be as vile as you!" Ahsoka yelled.
Vader looked at her again. "Anakin Skywalker was weak. I destroyed him."
The word hit Ahsoka like a stab in the heart. She made a mournful expression, before assuming one of rage. "Then I will avenge his death." she said gravely.
"Revenge is not the Jedi way." Vader mocked.
"...I'm no Jedi."
Ahsoka ignited her lightsabers and assumed the ready position. Vader did the same, and soon the two were clashing.
Ezra could only watch in awe for a minute as the two fought with a prowess and a speed that he couldn't even begin to fathom. Ahsoka managed to draw Vader away from the chamber as the two kept fighting.
"I need a lot more training." he mumbled to himself.
Then another fizzle of energy reminded Ezra that he needed to take out the holocron immediately, before it killed everybody.
Ezra dashed toward the obelisk, ignoring the pain coming from the small wound that Vader gave him, and then stretched out his left hand to reach the holocron, but the device seemed to be protected by some field energy and pushed him away.
Right then, from his left side came the voice of Kanan, though slightly warbled.
"It takes a Master and an Apprentice."
Ezra looked that way, only to see Kanan wearing a mask covering his face, and he was being led through an arm by Jaral as if he was...blind.
Panic now set into Ezra's heart as he dashed toward them.
"Kanan! What happened! Did Maul do this?!" rage and desperation could be heard in his voice.
Kanan simply raised a hand. "I'll explain later. We've got to get that holocron out of here. Jaral, guide me."
Jaral nodded to her brother and the three headed toward the obelisk while Ahsoka and Vader kept fighting in the distance.
When they were in front of it, Jaral passed Kanan to Ezra, so the boy could guide him while she kept an eye on their surroundings.
"A few more steps." Ezra said to Kanan as they reached the pillar of energy.
"Now reach. Higher!" he instructed. They both grasped the holocron and this time the energy field didn't materialize.
"Now pull!"
They both tugged. They managed to take the holocron out of the pillar, though the pull was so strong that they tumbled on the ground.
Jaral turned around to help them back up.
"The temple is starting to collapse." Ezra exclaimed when he noticed that the roof was slowly coming down.
"Then let's go." Jaral exhorted.
The siblings took Kanan on both sides so they could move faster. From his socket on the Phantom, Chopper grunted.
"We're coming as fast as we…" Ezra said, but then the holocron in his right hand started to draw him back. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.
Calling all of his strength, Ezra managed to stay in place, but then noticed that the holocron was being tugged by Vader with the Force.
The Sith lord was keeping his arm stretched, the blade ignited in the other hand.
"No, no, no!" Ezra said. Kanan and Jaral were both trying to take him away, but the Force was simply too strong with the Sith Lord.
"Guys!" the boy exclaimed.
"I know!" Jaral answered. "We got you!"
However, they couldn't do it.
Not until Ahsoka came rushing back, charging Vader from behind. The Sith was forced to leave his grasp and face Ahsoka, who, however, jumped against him and managed to slash his mask before stumbling toward the other Jedi.
"Ahsoka, hurry!" Ezra yelled over the ever more deafening sound of the dark energy flowing into the chamber.
The Togruta finally stood back up.
"Ahsoka…"
She was halted by the voice of Vader. Or, at least, what seemed like Vader's voice, but there was a trace of someone else.
The Togruta hopefully turned her head, and noticed that she had opened a crack into Vader's mask, revealing the right eye of the man hiding behind it.
"Ahsoka." the voice repeated, showing an eye with the yellow iris of those who fall to the Dark Side.
"Anakin…" she whispered.
Ezra turned back once he left Kanan to the attentions of Jaral on the Phantom, and saw that Ahsoka wasn't moving. And the temple was almost done collapsing.
"I won't leave you! Not this time!" he heard Ahsoka say loudly.
After a few seconds of silence, the Sith answered.
"Then you will die."
And ignited his crimson saber.
"Ahsoka!" Ezra yelled.
He dashed toward her, daring the roof of the temple, which was just a couple meters from closing completely.
But Ahsoka used the Force to push him away toward the Phantom, and now he had no chance to reach her as the roof finished coming down, closing the chamber.
"No! NO!" Ezra yelled desperately.
He tried to rush against the wall, probably wanting to smash it open, but Jaral immediately went to grab him from behind, dragging him toward the ship.
"Ezra, we have to go!" she yelled. Her tone couldn't hide a strong hint of sadness.
"Let me go! I need to save her!" he struggled.
"You can't!" Jaral had to retort, and hugged him from behind, trying to send a comforting feeling toward the bond.
Ezra clenched his fists, but eventually complied, following his sister into the Phantom.
Chopper started lifting the ship, which then spirited away once Jaral took controls and pushed the engines to their limit, coming out from one of the holes in the stone surface of the crater they were into.
Just a moment later, a huge wave of energy came off the temple, almost grabbing the Phantom. Eventually, the three Jedi came out of trouble.
For hours, Ezra wouldn't stop crying in the arms of his Master, who tried to comfort him despite his own wounds.
Jaral stayed at the controls, herself unable to say a word.
When the mourning passed, Jaral decided it was time to take a look at Kanan's wound. She hoped that the damage wouldn't be so extensive, but when she took out Kanan's mask, the situation was bad, though it could have been worse.
The eyes were still there, and despite a scar running along their line, the irises had been damaged. Most likely, Kanan had partially parried the hit that Maul intended to kill him with, but the explosion of light that the sabers do when clashing blinded him, and the damage was big.
All she could do now was simply apply some bandage and hoping that maybe her mother could do something, once they got back to base.
The more Ezra looked at Kanan, the more guilt, pain, anger and a lot of other sentiments were stacking in his mind. For all the trip back, he didn't say a word, even when Jaral tried to talk with him. Even more. He shut down his part of the bond, as he didn't want to make her feel miserable too.
He also never let the sith holocron go, keeping it firmly in his hands, and putting it inside his pouch only to sleep a few hours. The two days that followed were nothing short of agonizing. Not even Chopper had the courage to warble anything to lighten up the mood.
Finally they reached Atollon, when the sun was setting on the base.
Below them, their crew started gathering, along with many curious. Most seemed happy to see the Phantom finally coming back, but some of them, namely Hera and Darvos, were worried by the fact that the Jedi didn't announce themselves on the comlink during the landing.
Ezra and Jaral helped Kanan stand in front of the door when it opened.
The smiles on the personnel quickly vanished as they noticed that Ahsoka wasn't there and that Kanan was injured.
Hera was the first to walk forward and put her hands on Kanan's face. Now the promise he made before leaving, 'We'll see each other again', could never be fulfilled. The Twi'lek hugged his beloved Jedi with strength, trying to hide her face that was about to cry.
Jaral and Ezra moved forward, their heads bent in sorrow. Darvos and Sabine went to comfort the respective partners, while Ezra sent a sorry gaze to Rex, who immediately understood the implications: his best friend was gone.
No word was spent. Not at that moment.