Last time: Jayne was pulled into a dark space and met a sith named Sinya.
Now: Sasha is back and. SHE. IS. PISSED.
Chapter 10- Escaping the Dark
Sasha woke up back in the quarters she used on the Bloodstorm. So she had not escaped this false hell yet. But she had an idea where to go. And this time she knew the truth. Glancing down, she noticed that she wasn't wearing Sith robes anymore. Her transformation in the mindspace had filtered back to this plane of reality. That realization solidified the thought that none of this was real to begin with.
"Finally. Welcome back, Sasha." The voice, her voice, said happily to herself. It had always been her voice and it always would be. It helped save her. And she realized that she should have listened to it sooner. This charade of playing Sith Acolyte was over. It was time for her to return to being a Jedi and return to the real reality. The one where she was married to Viran, mother to Lana, sister to Cien, Oppie and Kyr, and best friends with Kait and the members of the Copperheads. And the one where she was sure her family was worried sick about her as she had the sinking feeling that she had been in here for a while. The only question now was, how to get back?
This wasn't like any of the previous visits Sasha had to the mindspace. In those instances, she had the ability to leave just by a simple thought. And this wasn't exactly like when Cien first pulled her in to get the information about the fragment. Even then Sasha had the ability to fight back and managed to escape it a couple of times. No, this time was different. This time she was being held here like a prisoner, forced to live and exist in this reality. But like every prison or trap, there is a way out. Just where could it be?
Then the thought occurred to her. The hatch Viran used to initially sneak aboard the Bloodstorm to save her and the one Cien used to escape. They even used that hatch when Viran and Oppie rescued her from Ikari to return to the Shadow Runner. It always seemed to serve as a way off this ship for them which meant it should be a way out of this alternate reality.
Remembering exactly where to go after spending two years on this bucket of bolts, Sasha opened the door to her room and did a quick scan of the corridors to make sure the coast was clear. No troopers or Acolyte Cien in sight, Sasha took off down the hall with her lightsaber at hand, ready to face any foes or adversaries that would get in her way. She was going home no matter what and she wasn't going to let these false copies of soldiers and Sith stop her.
As she rounded a corner that headed for the lifts, Acolyte Cien was standing there.
"Leaving so soon, dear sister?" She growled, looking at Sasha with nothing but hatred and contempt from under her brow. "It's only been two years, and we have centuries in here. Millenia more to play as they keep you alive out there."
Sasha huffed. "Yeah? Well, I think I'm done playing make believe with you. So if you don't mind moving aside, I'd like to return to my family and reality," she said, unamused.
"And what makes you think you have any power here, Sinya?" Acolyte Cien asked in a voice dripping with mockery and contempt. "Look upon me and see the fear you instill." She said, raising her hands.
"I know how this space works. The real you taught me how to use it," Sasha said, unfazed. "So if you think you can scare me with idle threats by showing me my past and the trauma I have endured, then bring it on. The real you already tried that once. What makes you think you can best me in here?" She challenged with a piqued brow.
"Because I hate you, unlike… her." Cien growled as she dashed forward and used the force to send Sasha flying backward.
Sasha tumbled back and rolled to a kneeling position. She then looked up to see that the scenery had changed around her. She was back on Vestora. Before her was the smoking wreckage of the Forerunner and nearby lay Oppie's dead body. This was the Vestora from this accursed reality. Sasha stood up and scowled. "I know this is not real," she barked. "Oppie and Viran are still alive. You think this will get to me again? I don't think so."
There was no sign of Cien, or whatever she was. She was alone in the forest next to the wrecked Forerunner. The blood spatter evident on the cockpit canopy and Oppie's body were her only companions.
Sasha tried not to grimace at the sight. Even though it wasn't real, seeing her brother like that and only imagining what state Viran was in inside the cockpit was enough to still cause her to wince inwardly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then opened them and reached out with her hand. With a slight rotation of her wrist, she used the Force to alter the scene to what actually happened all those years ago.
Everything around her shifted back to the way it was supposed to be. The Forerunner was in one piece and fighting back against the real Cien. Oppie was still alive and was rushing to a younger version of Sasha, who was unconscious, to get them out of there safely. Sasha felt a relieved smile come to her face for a moment as she watched the scene play out before letting the smile disappear as she looked to the sky.
"See? I have control in here too," Sasha called out. "Whatever you throw at me, I can just correct it to the proper events or change the scene entirely. I won't let you get to me. Not again." She hissed.
A shadow coalesced like smoke forming into a humanoid figure behind an oblivious Oppie. It turned into the Acolyte Cien, separate from the memory that was playing out around them, and a blood red saber blade erupted from Oppie's chest. His eyes widened in shock as a sickening gasp escaped his lips, and he looked directly at Sasha.
"This is where we get to have fun." The Shadow said in dark mockery, as she extinguished her saber and Oppie fell to the forest floor, dying with horrible pained gasps.
Sasha snarled. "You stay away from him," she said in a low growl. "This fight is between us." She then raised her hand and Force pushed the Shadow away from Oppie.
Shadow braced herself and deflected the blast away as her robes rustled and she took a step backward. "This." She spat out. "This is not a fight vod'ika." She said in a dark, snarling mocking tone of the word. "This is your final destruction, for all that you've done to me, for twisting… her into that weak thing that she became. And they," She said, stabbing into Oppie with her saber as he let out a gasping scream. "Are your true weakness." She twisted her saber cruelly as he fell limp with death. "This is between us, and because of you they will die a countless times over the eons you will be trapped in here with me."
Sasha kept her gaze on Shadow, but felt herself grimace inwardly at seeing Oppie die. It was just like the fight with Dracul all over again. That suddenly gave her an idea. "You think you're the first person to try and scare me with that? Oppie and Viran may be my true weakness, but they are also my greatest strength," she said, her voice unwavering. "Knowing they are still alive out there is what drives me to defeat you in here. But I know what scares you. What your weakness is."
With a flick of her wrist, Sasha changed the scene around them. They were standing in the cavern on Talokore and up on the dias was Dracul while around them the memory of Cien, Sasha, Viran and Oppie rushed in to face him. This fight still left a few scars on Sasha, physically and mentally. The way he controlled the mindspace and forced her to see her friend's horrible demise while demanding her to open a portal to the world between worlds. Even just thinking about the fight that followed in the void made her head and the scar on her leg from Dracul's saber throb at the memory. But one thing Sasha knew for sure was that no matter what version of Cien, she was also afraid of Dracul.
"How droll." Shadow said as she stepped aside while the memory of Cien was sent flying past her, back against the wall. "A memory of Dracul. I'm terrified." She said curtly as she stalked towards Sasha. "What next dear sister? Will you show me images of his undead thrall?" She asked as she ignited her saber and her voice rose in anger. "Kopesh's last idiotic form?" She yelled as she swung for Sasha's neck.
Sasha activated her blade and blocked the attack. "Why isn't it working?" She growled. "I thought you feared Dracul?" She questioned as she pushed Shadow backwards.
Shadow backed off with a growl. "Why should I fear that failure?" She sneered as she backed off. "He was defeated by you, after all!" She yelled as she threw her arms out, pushing Sasha into another memory. Sasha was falling through the air. Above her Shadow, who was standing on the edge of a ship's ramp, smiled darkly at her watching the Jedi fall away.
Sasha gasped as she realized what this memory was as she fell. This was when Cien and her tried to escape the coup Ikari and Mendax started. Where she could have lost Lana if Ikari hadn't cushioned her fall at the last minute. She felt a knot form in her gut at that, but she would worry about it later. Twisting around, she could see Ikari below as her other self already landed at her feet. Reaching out with the Force, Sasha landed in a crouch before looking back up at Shadow, but the ship was already too far above her.
She huffed as she stood up. "Nice try, but it won't work!" Sasha yelled up at the ship in frustration. She then shifted the scene to moments before the ship took off. The fight against the Sith troopers loyal to Cien and the ones loyal to Ikari happened around her as she glared at the ship.
Shadow stepped off the ship, ignoring Cien's loyal troopers that were trying to cover the memory of Cien and Sasha making it across the airfield. She had a dark, malicious grin on her face. "How stupid of me, you already fell to the darkside." She said as she slammed her hands out.
Sasha fell into the depths of the obsidian edifice aboard the Bloodstorm, as the memory of Sinya constructed her new saber. Bleeding the crystal from the saber from Oppie, Master Redika's old saber. Pouring her dark side hatred and bloodlust into the crystal, a scene made all the darker by the light that Sasha always shone with.
"You made such a good Sith." Shadow growled.
Glaring at Shadow, Sasha slowly looked back at herself as she fell. She approached Sinya and stood before her, a frown forming on her face. "The lie you twisted here really did lead me astray from the light, but there were two things you didn't account for." She turned to face Shadow, looking pissed. "One was that the light never left me, it was always there. Reaching out to me and it helped save me. Even if it dimmed for a time. And the second thing…" She Force pushed Shadow backwards, and she braced herself but stumbled backward several steps. "Was that I was never alone. I couldn't sense them at all at first, but I know Viran and Oppie were trying to reach me. And finding my actual sister brought me back." She said confidently as she activated her green saber. It shined brightly in the darkness. "I'm no longer Sinya, I'm Sasha. A Jedi. Get it right."
Sasha then reached out and switched the scene again so they were standing in an open field. Nowhere she recognized, just somewhere away from the Bloodstorm.
"You will always be Sinya, now." Shadow said, glaring at Sasha with a seething hatred. "You fell. You broke. And you will always have to remember that. All this time, you thought it was real. All the people you killed. All the deaths you caused for fun. That was you." Shadow said as she glanced off to the side, at the plain around them, and then shoved Sasha into another memory.
Sasha was standing in a doorway, as she and Kopesh kissed in the disgusting room on Nar Shadaa right in front of her, so close she could feel their clothing brush past her.
"What will Viran say when you tell him?" Shadows mocking voice said from elsewhere in the room. "And what will disgust him more? That kiss you enjoyed, or the cold blooded murder you enjoyed even more? Will you even tell him?" She asked as Sinya stabbed Kopesh in the memory.
Clenching her hand tightly into a fist, Sasha tried not to cringe at the sight of kissing that monster and his murder. "I will tell him everything. Oppie too. Because I know what I have done in here is shameful and vicious. It's not me or the Jedi way. And I know that it will rid me with guilt once this over. But I'm no ordinary Jedi and I don't have to focus on that right now." She then looked up towards the ceiling. "But what would Kyr say if he saw you attacking me like this?" She asked, angrily.
She then reached out and twisted the scene away to reveal the dining room at Haven. It was the memory of Kyr and Cien when they shared their first kiss. A scene Sasha shouldn't have seen in the first place, but one that she was hoping might stop Shadow.
Shadow stood frozen, watching the scene play out as the malevolence drained from her face to a desperate, broken pain filled with longing. Then her features darkened, watching that scene, her breathing deepened as she slowly turned to look at Sasha, with a look of pure and utter hatred, and she started stalking slowly towards Sasha. "I am going to kill you." She said, her voice even and flat.
Sasha stared at her confused by the reaction, but stood her ground as she activated her saber. "I'm not going to give you the satisfaction."
"Yes, you will." Shadow said seething as she threw her hand out and pushed Sasha backward into the broad windows of armored transparisteel that looked out onto the balcony and over the meadow, into the pale blue light of the twin moons and the stars that shone above like beautiful diamonds, more spectacular than they ever looked in real life.
The transparisteel shattered into jagged, razor sharp pieces as Sasha fell. Not into another memory, but simply into the balcony outside. Shadow raised her arm, using the Force to lift hundreds of shards up in a cloud around Sasha.
Groaning at the bruise now forming on her back, Sasha sat up and looked at the shards around her before glaring at Shadow. She lashed out with a hand to dismiss the shards and send Shadow back. She climbed to her feet and walked back over to the window.
Shadow had fallen back against one of the chairs at the table and had to take a split second to steady herself. She looked up at Sasha and threw her hands out with a snarl.
They emerged into a new place, nothing Sasha had ever seen. A volcanic caldera, with pools of lava surrounding them and exploding in sprays of liquified rock. Sasha emerged into the memory with her footing precariously on the edge of a rock, and Shadow clenched her hand tightly, just barely holding Sasha back from falling over the edge with the Force. Several meters below her was a pool of flowing lava, the heat coming off distorting the air and making them both feel like they were standing in front of a furnace. "You," she seethed. "You have no right."
Sasha grabbed Shadow's wrist and gripped it tightly. "What? Showing you your own memories? I've done it before and if it means defeating you and getting out of here, I'll gladly do it again," she said, no hint of fear in her voice even given the circumstances.
Shadow looked at her, her pure hatred coming through. "Then we'll both go." She said, shoving forward so both of them fell backwards into the bubbling pool of lava behind Sasha.
"I'm not dying here!" Sasha cried out as they fell. She lashed out and changed the scenery again.
It was the beach and nearby lay a memory of Kyr and Cien. Sasha landed on the sand with a thud. Coughing out sand, she pulled herself to her feet.
Shadow got to her feet, looking around, seeing the memory they were in. She growled at Sasha like a feral animal and lashed out at her, trying to punch her, ignoring the Force as she leapt upon the Jedi wanting to beat the life out of her personally. Sasha dodged the punch and let out one of her own for Shadow's gut. Shadow ignored the hit as she let out a breath and swung for Sasha's face again with a wild swing. Sasha brought up her arm and blocked the hit. She tried not to wince at the strength behind the punch as her arm went numb for a moment.
"Knock it off," Sasha said, lashing out with a kick. "This fighting is pointless. I'm going to return to my family no matter what you try to do to me here."
Shadow was kicked off to the side as she fell to the sand. She used her momentum to get to her feet, and threw a handful of sand in Sasha's face. Sasha quickly brought her arms up to block it, but some of it managed to get into her eyes. She hissed at the stinging sensation of sand.
Sasha was torn from the beach as Shadow lashed out, pushing her into the surf with the Force. Landing with a splash, Sasha surfaced from the water with a gasp as Shadow tried to hold her underneath. Sasha struggled under the water, feeling her lungs burn. She then pushed Shadow off with the Force allowing her to resurface and take a deep breath. She tried to rub the water and sand from her vision as she glared in Shadow's direction. Once her vision cleared, she blanched when she saw where they were.
Myrkr.
Next to her, in the water, the body of the bounty hunter brother floated. In a horrifying state that looked like he had passed several days ago and had been in the water since then. Sasha stared in horror at the sight of him. She staggered up the shore, her breathing suddenly ragged.
"No, no, no," Sasha breathed out in fear. "Not again." She slammed her eyes closed and tried to hold back the shudders that threatened her body.
"I'm sure he's still there." Shadow hissed at Sasha. "Imagine how beautiful his corpse is now after so long." She said as she seethed at Sasha and let her destroy herself with this memory.
Sasha trembled where she sat. She thought back to what everyone said and did to help her heal. Their words seeming so distant now as she was thrown back into the horror that was Myrkr. But she pushed the memory aside. She had to if she wanted to stop Shadow. Pushing herself, a little ungracefully to her feet, Sasha shot a glare at Shadow as tears fell down her cheeks.
"You won't win," Sasha hissed. "I've moved past this. But I sense there is something you haven't." She reached out with the Force and changed the scene, dismissing Myrkr for good, and appearing somewhere Sasha didn't recognize.
She was on a desolate plain, outside a building that looked like a stone bunker. Around her red dust swirled around what remained of water carved rocks that had been parched for eons. The dust obscured the sky above, the blood red sun shining down and baking the awful landscape underneath a golden sky. There was no life here. Except for Shadow, or the memory of her as she waited expectantly outside the only door to the great, black stone edifice that stood in stark contrast to the red dust and stones that made up the landscape, and the sunlight that made everything seem like it was drenched in blood.
Shadow, or the memory of her, was standing near the door expectantly. The Shadow Sasha had been fighting looked around the scene in pure horror next to Sasha.
"What is this place?" Sasha asked, confused as she calmed down from the memory of Myrkr.
Her opponent looked at her with seething hatred. Before she could act, the doorway lifted open with a slight grinding sound.
"I'll break free of this!" A voice shouted from the inside. Sasha distantly recognized it as Selina's voice. "And you will know what a real monster is!" She shouted impotently after the figure that emerged into the sun.
Cien, in her full Mandalorian armor. She stopped, her discomfort visible as she looked to the memory of Shadow.
"She sounded angry." Shadow said.
Cien just nodded. "At some point she'll break free. Then you can have her."
"I'll look forward to that." Shadow said maliciously.
Cien just turned and left, fading out of the space like a mirage, as Shadow turned back to the closed door. To wait.
The real Shadow, the one that had been fighting Sasha, stared at where Cien had disappeared. Her face was blank, but echoes of longing, of deep seated hatred shone through.
"This is when Cien trapped Selina," Sasha realized. She looked at Shadow. "And you were trapped in her mind. I understand how Selina returned now." Shadow turned to look at her, her features turning back to a malicious scowl. With a flick of her wrist, Sasha changed the scene right back to the Bloodstorm.
"That…" Shadow started, seething. "She, I…" She said, as if confused. Then her features twisted with a depthless hatred and she lashed out at Sasha.
The punch connected with Sasha's jaw and she reeled at the punch. Sasha turned to Shadow and Force pushed her backwards down the corridor. "I'm done fooling around. I've learned more than enough," she said as she wiped the corners of her mouth.
Sasha then continued onto the lifts. She ran down past a few more corridor intersections where she spotted Shadow or Sith Troopers there to stop her. She used the Force to push them away or to close doors in their faces as she kept running for the lifts. She wasn't going to slow down. She needed to get out of here and to the hatch.
When the lift opened, there were three Sith troopers. They raised their blasters to shoot her. Sasha blocked the bolts with her saber as it sprung to life in her hands. She then used the Force to pull them from the lift.
"You won't get away!" She heard Shadow yell behind her.
Sasha sent the troopers flying at Shadow as a distraction as she continued onto the lift. Shadow cut down the troopers with her saber as she charged for the lift. Sasha pressed the button that would lead down to the maintenance levels, but the doors were taking forever to close and Shadow nearly closed the distance. Her red blade stabbed through the doors as they closed. As the lift descended the blade cut the door before disappearing into the shaft. Sasha let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when the blade stabbed through.
The anxiousness to return home passed through her body as she descended closer and closer to the maintenance level. She clenched and unclenched her fists as she took a deep breath. This was almost over.
The doors opened with a creak when she reached her designated floor. Sith Troopers were arrayed outside the door waiting for her. Sasha lashed out with a Force push that sent them flying backwards down the corridor. She ran out of the lift and hurried for the hatch. Her feet felt like they had boosters attached to them as she ran as fast as she could. As she rounded the corner that led down to the hatch, she slowed when she spotted Shadow waiting for her there.
"I told you, I won't let you escape," Shadow said, venomously.
"And I told you, I'm returning to my family," Sasha growled. "Now get out of my way!" She cried out as she Force pushed Shadow into a nearby wall and kept her pinned there with the Force. Sasha approached her and the hatch. "And if you dare follow me, you will be defeated. I promise you that. Now go." She threw Shadow down the hall and sealed the door that separated the two of them.
Sasha let out an exhausted breath. She looked down at the hatch with a look of relief. AS-381. This was it. She used the Force and flicked it open. Sasha then looked up at the Bloodstorm and couldn't help but smirk.
"Good riddance," she muttered under her breath as she looked into the hatch.
It was pitch black at the bottom, but she could sense the others on the other side of it. With a deep breath, she climbed up onto the rim of the hatch and stared down into it. She then leapt into the darkness, using the Force to seal the hatch behind her as all light disappeared. Then, as she fell, the darkness was instantly replaced by a blinding flash of light that consumed her and then she saw nothing at all.
DAMN! GO SASHA GO! REVIEW!