DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc, 20th Century Fox, Timothy Zahn, Barbara Hambly, YKW and the other writers of the expanded Star Wars Universe. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
"It has been two years, Seth," Darth Knar rumbled from his place at their dark table. "Two years we have patiently endured, as you have asked. We can wait no longer. The dark powers say it must be today."
Darth Seth resisted the urge to sneer at them. Instead, he said, "I agree, Darth Knar. All the elements are in place. She is in the First Temple, preparing to celebrate her eighteenth birthday. She is in her prime, ripe for our taking. All we have to do now is act."
If he didn't know better, he would have thought that Knar was gaping at him. "Finally," the man whispered.
"Yes, finally," Seth snapped. "You have had two years to perfect this plan. I suggest you get it into motion. We only have hours before she is within our reach."
It was almost amusing, the way the five sith lords scrambled to their places. Let them scramble, he thought to himself. All that he needed was to reach forth and pluck her from them. It was all taking place, as he had been promised.
Soon, he purred.
Derrin shifted uncomfortably in the large temple. Or rather, it was the fact that he was so comfortable here that made him uncomfortable. Luke had shared visions of this place with him, but he knew his memories were pale comparisons to the beauty of it. Beside him, Derrin's ever-faithful companion, Drianna stood, waiting anxiously for Vaiya to appear.
"Where is she?" she whispered, her eyes darting over to Luke and Mara, who just smiled at her assuringly.
"She went to go pick up Valeris," Mara whispered back. "For some reason he insisted on coming at the last minute." She snorted, and then smiled with affection. "I guess I know where all my stubbornness came from."
"I think I see her craft," Luke said, putting a hand over his eyes. There was a speck on the horizon, and it was coming closer, quickly. Yes, it was Vaiya's speeder. It hovered into view, and then landed on the nearby dock. But there was another craft...this one had a large, dark shadow. It was coming in a little low, and was a little too big for the landing space...maybe....
Too late, Luke caught it. Mara pulled her lightsaber from her belt purely by instinct, but it was nothing against the blast that took out the first of the giant redwood-like columns. Vaiya's speeder hit the ground hard as it was caught in the rolling shockwave, and she barely kept it from crashing. Immediately, the four Jedi Knights lept into action, charging their way toward the speeder. They all had the same terrible feeling.
Whatever it was, it had come for Vaiya.
Luke looked up. The craft was unfamiliar, but at the same time he recognized it. It was long and silver, like something from old Naboo. It moved quickly, almost disappearing in the bright sun because of its liquid-like surface. Some sort of illusion? he wondered, but there was no time to contemplate it. The ship seemed too large to manuver its way into an attack position, but within a few seconds Luke saw what its main objective was.
A hatch in its underbelly slid open, and four single speeders dropped out. They charged at Vaiya's craft, not attacking but instead surrounding, as if they wished to capture her rather than kill her.
By then, the small band of Jedi had reached the speeder, and they found themselves inside the attacking circle. Durranian troops were beginning to show themselves, offering some resistance with a few heavy blaster bolts here and there. But the riders of the speeders were not ordinary attack troops.
They were sith lords.
Luke caught the glimmer of red as they drew their lightsabers to easily deflect the defending bolts. One of them swooped down like a bird of prey and caught something that was squirming its way out of Vaiya's speeder, a human figure that Luke could not discern, save that it looked like a child. He rushed forward, but he could not use his Force abilities to fly, so there was little he could do besides watch.
Behind him, he heard Vaiya scream.
It was an outraged scream, and Luke turned to see her staring up at one of the sith lords carried its charge back into the Naboo cruiser. She pulled something from her belt and ignited it--a violet lightsaber. So she had finally made one of her own. Callista's old yellow saber had long since been abandoned on Yavin IV, the night she had run away from her home and began her path that eventually led her to Durran. Now she had her own, and she was using it.
Luke caught the dark rumble of rage through the Force, but Vaiya saw it and disappated it with a short burst of Jedi calm. Then she raised up her saber--the handle was awfully long, Luke noted uneasily--and began to defend herself.
One of the sith lords lept from his craft, and Luke caught a black and orange face streak past him as another one of the craft rounded upon him. Mara was trying to get Valeris out of the wrecked speeder safely, and Drianna and Derrin were attempting crowd control as the fourth sith lord used innocent bystanders as shields.
All around him was chaos. And then, he could feel Cal Saphringer, as surely as if the man were standing before him, sneering down at him from the ship, his hands holding some giant weapon with a violet-white glow. He tried to check his reflexes, tried to bring his lightsaber up in time to sheild him, but there indeed was no try. His saber was not wide enough to deflect the blast.
Then all was silent.
Vaiya finally had her feet under her--physically if not emotionally. Valeris was unhurt, that much she knew. And Valery was still alive, even though he was now up in the body of the ship. What did they want with him? The poor boy had just finally made it through the desert, even though he was only a little more than ten years old, and now he was gone again, kidnapped by some unknown enemy that seemed to be more interested in capturing than killing.
Then, she heard it.
Do not fight them, my love.
My love? What was going on? As she rounded to face the sith lord who landed in front of her, taking in his green and black patterned face, she felt an errie sense of deja-vou. She knew this face, even if the color was wrong. And she knew the voice, even if she didn't see the speaker.
The red saber charged into her, but the blow was not designed to harm her, but rather to herd her in a particular direction. She felt her feet slipping on the debris that surrounded them, and her concentration slipped as she realized her mind was open too far, and there was too much going on around her.
All was chaos. She had to block it out and concentrate.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone standing on the ramp that extended from the belly of the slender silver ship. Someone very familiar...something with dark hair and dark eyes, to match a soul equally dark in caliber.
Cal Saphringer.
He had something in his hands that stretched across his arm and on to his shoulder, a large, cannon-like weapon of some sort. He was grinning manically, as if all of this were some sort of hologame that he controlled. He aimed, and Vaiya watched as her father fell, unconscious.
"NO!" she screamed.
Mara's firey red head whipped around as she watched Luke fall. Her eyes, green flames, found Cal, and her rage rippled through the Force, making Vaiya stumble.
"MONSTER!" Mara screamed, and charged, using the Force to propell her up into the ship. She was in mid-air when Cal casually raised his hand and shocked her with Force-lightning. She crumpled, and was promptly caught in the Force as Cal pulled her toward him. Then he reached down and picked up her father by the scruff of his tunic, hoisting him up into the ship.
Derrin and Drianna weren't far behind Vaiya, trying to defend the innocents, but badly outnumbered. The two sith lords had rounded on them, and were beating them back, using the bystanders as distractions. Drianna took a heavy blow with a chunk of the crashed speeder and fell. Derrin followed when he let his anger get to him and charged at both sith lords at once. They promptly knocked him flat with a double-dose of Force lightning.
Now she was alone.
Vaiya made a vicious slash at her attacker, sending him stumbling. This was all that Syrian had trained her for. This was her moment, her battle. She had to win...all depended on it. But there were too many. They closed in on her, all three of them, with the fourth returning from the belly of the ship to join them. Cal was above her, laughing, and she ignited the second blade of her saber, determined to give them the best fight of their lives.
For a few moments, it was glorious to watch. She managed to get all her attention on the battle and moved like she was truly one with the Force. She anticipated, she jumped, she struck and she lunged. She hurled debris at them and made them bring the fight to her, one at a time. But she was outnumbered, and her focus was slipping because all she could think about was her parents, her friends, and her little brother that she hardly knew, alone and afraid in the hands of these sith lords.
Finally, a piece of the piping from the speeder struck her in the back of the head, and she fell, her lightsaber crashing down beside her, both violet blades withdrawing at once.
Soon, she heard the voice say, its dark, soothing sound melting into oblivion. Soon.
She was more beautiful than he had ever imagined.
Dressed in the rich, Durranian purple velvet, with her hair loose and flowing around her shoulders, fighting like a tiger, she was everything he could have hoped for. He was almost disappointed when she fell, but sent a reassurance to her that now, it would not be much longer until he was with her.
Now, she lay in the room they had prepared for her, anticipating her intial resistance, but hopeful that she would come around soon. They had spread a heavy blanket over the single bunk that floated in the center of the room, and she rested on top of it, her face dirty and smeared from the battle.
Regaining their breath, the four sith warriors watched Seth with caution. She had given them a run for their money, and they were respectful. But she had been a little too resistant for their liking. In tune with their thoughts, Darth Knar spoke for them.
"We hope this is not another mistake, Seth," he said. "All of this preparation will not be done in futility."
Seth just shook his head. "All the years you have over me, Knar, and still you do not understand patience. This will take time, but I promise, it will be worth it."
"You will not fail this time," Knar replied, and Seth heard the threat in his tone. He looked at him, and used his fierce mask of red and black in the same way he had many times over--to intimidate. His eyes brightened into their intense yellow-green, and his jaw clenched. He lifted his lip into a sneer that shifted over his entire face. Knar simply looked back, his eyes trying to match the fury in Seth's face but failing. He backed away, holding the gaze, and then left the room.
She stirred. A low moan escaped from her lips as her body struggled against the damage that had been wrought upon it. The blow she'd been dealt had been a hard one, but perhaps it was better this way. With the weakening of the body often went the weakening of the will. The prophecy said she had to be willing, but it did not say how willing.
He deactivated the forcefield and entered the room. His desire to touch her was becoming overwhelming. He ran his gloved hand over her hair, then slowly down to her face, her neck...she seemed to stir against his caress, and her eyes flickered open, unfocused, glazed. She turned her head in an attempt to clear them, but the movement only brought her pain. She groaned again, this time louder, and he touched her mind with his own, using old techniques to soothe some of the pain. Her face, which had become clenched in agony, relaxed, and he could see her beauty again.
Taking several deep breaths, she finally opened her eyes, and they had cleared. She blinked several times, attempting to focus. Those eyes, a bright shade of blue and green mixed together, raked over her surroundings, struggling to make sense of where she was.
He touched her mind again. You are safe, he sent, and was surprised at his own tenderness.
Her eyes jerked to him, as if surprised to see him there, and he could feel the confusion in her mind. Why hadn't she sensed him? Were her powers so easily disrupted? And then, slowly, as they rested on them, they widened.
Recognition.
She knew him. Seth felt his heart begin to pound as if he were only a child again, the anticipation and pleasure temporarily freezing him into place. The fact that she would know him as surely as he knew her had not occured to him, but it mattered little. It made perfect sense now, as her gaze locked into his. Niether of them spoke for several long minutes, and he could feel her mind whirling around him, struggling to remember, then discarding the battle because she knew with certainty that they had never met, but that she had seen him in a vision.
In a vision. The thought filled him with delight, and he felt himself begin to smile. It was not something he did often, except maybe in disdain, or when he meant to frighten his opponents.
Hesitantly, he raised his hand to the hood that covered his head and gently pulled it back, revealing his horns. Her eyes widened again, and this time he felt a flicker of fear...no, not fear. Something worse.
Repulsion.
His smile faded. He was tempted to pull the hood back over his head again, but resisted. Out of pride, he stepped closer to her.
She was surprised by the movement, and pulled herself into an upright position, in spite of the price she knew she would pay. Her face contorted again as she fought back the pain and was forced to stop, now stuck sitting upright on the bunk with her legs swung over the side, her thought to jump off it entirely abandoned. His face fell in disappointment in spite of his attempts to keep it level. But to her credit, she managed to maintain her calm as she realized that further movement away from him would be impossible. In a few seconds, her fear was gone, and he felt her curiosity begin to rise.
"Where am I?" she whispered, as if it hurt to talk.
"Where you belong...with us," he replied, his normally deep, husky voice sounding very small in his own ears.
She began to relax her muscles, beginning with her toes and working her way up until he saw her shoulders slump a bit. The very beginnings of a smile formed on her face. "That doesn't exactly help. Maybe you can tell me how I got here."
He frowned. So they had hit her even harder than he thought. "What do you remember?"
Her eyes turned away from him, looking inward as she sought to answer his question. What did she remember? Something about a boy with grey eyes, such pleasure at seeing him even though she had never met him before, either...a sarcastic, inward comment about this being the day for those sort of things. Then...nothing. Just a haze of confusion. She turned her eyes back to him and her shoulders gave a slight shrug. "Not much," she finally said, her voice rising above the whisper. "Maybe you can tell me why I'm here. Unless the answer is the same."
He regarded her curiously. This was not what he had really expected, although the pleasure of their first few moments was reward enough for all his waiting. The feeling of that pleasure was rather alien to him, and worse than that, even dangerous. He was glad that Darth Knar was not here to observe it.
In spite of all that, he did not cast it away. There was something about her...something more than what his visions had told him. His lips twisted into another smile, this one more rueful. "Perhaps," he said, his voice sounding more natural and confident now, "you need some rest. Then I would be glad to tell you anything you wish to know." He gave a little bow, turned, and left.
"Wait!" she called, and then a small groan escaped from her again, the loudness of her own voice hurting her ears. He turned back, his eyebrows raised expectantly.
"Yes?"
"I...I don't even know...your name," she managed, her hand clenching the side of her head.
It was his turn to widen his eyes. A name...how could he have gone all this time and not thought of that himself? All these years, he had never thought of her as having a name. She just was, to him. Nothing more or less. "Seth," he said. "Darth Seth."
Her face softened. "Vaiya," she returned. "Vaiya Jade Skywalker."
He nodded. "A pleasure, Vaiya. But please...now you must rest. I will return soon."
She nodded, and suddenly her expression turned guarded and her thoughts closed to him. "Very well, Darth Seth."
Well, this was a fine mess.
Mara paced the small cell, surprised at her own ability to do so despite the ravages of the Force lightning. Her new clothes were scorched. The tan linen pants that the Durranians had given to her had dark streaks across the thighs, and the white sleeveless tunic was smudged with charcoal. The only saving grace was the fact that her bright green jacket with the gold embroidery along the outside sleeves was relatively intact.
Not that she cared much at the moment about her clothes. She was trying to send away the last of the pain and remain calm, and those were the easy parts. The biggest obstacle to her at the moment was her complete rage at Cal for yet again having ruined her life.
They had injected her with something, that much she remembered. It was some sort of drug, but something had told her that adreneline would send it out of her system, so she had beaten the tar out of her bunk, which sat in ruins behind her. Surely they had heard the noise. Someone would be coming soon.
Luke wasn't anywhere that she could see, but she could feel him. He was alive, struggling against his own pain and searching for a way out. He was probably somewhere down the hall, as far away from her as Cal could get him. Well, let him try. If he hadn't learned that she and Luke were inseperable by now, he would never learn. It would just have to backfire on him like it always had.
But she was not afraid. Of that she was certain. She was not afraid for herself or for Luke. They were Jedi Masters, after all...she was even impressed with her ability to think of herself in that way without flinching. It was not a statement of pride or purpose, but of ability. They would escape this, as they always had. And even if the didn't, even if Cal killed them--which he would probably try when he realized how pathetic his efforts to separate her from Skywalker were--it would make no nevermind to her. He would still not win this private war he was waging. And lately she had the feeling that she had nothing to fear from death.
Someone was coming. Someone who felt slightly familiar, but had a dark stench around him, as if he were not himself but something evil had taken control of him. Mara got as close to the forcefield as she could to look down the hall, and caught the sound of a laugh. Whoever he was, he was not alone. Two of those sith lords were with him.
She shuddered, in spite of the fact that she wasn't afraid. Those sith lords, with their tattooed faces and their bright yellow eyes. She knew evil...she had spent too much time around Palpatine not to recognize those who aspired to his evil status. But there had been things she'd deliberately forgotten, brought to light only by Vaiya having to return her memory to her. Palpatine had had a mental stench like that, as if there were something else controlling him, something beyond himself and his evil. Something that made Palpatine look as dumb and witless as an ewok.
The party of three appeared before her cell, and Mara found she recognized the third member, even though she had not offically met him before.
Larin.
"Hello, Master Skywalker," he said, his entire voice a sneer. His eyes, all colors and yet no colors, shone brightly with a chemical maddness. "I hope you're finding your chambers comfortable."
This wasn't right...Vaiya knew this man. This wasn't who he was! Surely Cal had done something to him! Mara's face went from her usually hard expression into a softer one of shock.
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
He laughed, a high-pitched sound. His grin became so wide and all of his teeth showed, and he stepped closer to the cell. Mara caught the smell of him...he hadn't bathed in some time. The grime hung off of him in wet streaks. But through it all, he was poised rather calmly. It was unnerving, the gentle maddess he seemed to be caught up in. She had never encountered this before.
Then she realized as her arm began to burn where they had injected her that this was what the drug was supposed to have done. This was what Cal had attempted to do to her. Well, he had failed, and she guessed he knew it. Now what?
He rasied his hand and deactivated the forcefield. The two sith lords stepped forward and grabbed Mara, one at each arm.
"Taking you to your destiny, my ex-mother-in-law-to-be," he laughed. "And Dad gets to watch." He turned and pointed, and Mara saw the other two sith lords drag Luke out of his cell. "It's time to party like it's the end of the world, Mara dear. Because I can guarantee you, it is."
Vaiya lay on the bunk, distantly knowing that something was wrong. Her parents were in trouble, her little brother was being held in isolation somewhere, and she was locked in this place with the man from her visions standing outside her door.
Or rather, he had been standing there. Apparently, he'd gone, on to attend to more urgent things. She would have to admit, he was not what she expected at all. He was so fierce looking, so obviously evil, and yet...there was something attractive about him. Something that appealed to her in the darkest parts of her soul. And the disconcerting thing about it was that it was not only in the darkness that he appealed to her, but in the light. There was a raw sexual energy about him, something so basically animalistic that it sounded in the very depths of her humanity. But there was something else there, lurking just underneath that heavy shadow, glinting silver like the lining of a storm cloud.
There was something there...something she couldn't put her finger on. Only Yejion knew, and His messenger had warned her not to judge anyone. She could not judge this Darth Seth. Sith lord he might be right now, but his destiny was elsewhere.
What part she played in it, however, was a complete mystery to her.
He knew her, that much she recognized. Apparently, he had been waiting for her to show up for a very long time. Why? She had no idea.
This pacing wasn't doing her any good. The fact was, she was tired. So she sat down on the bunk again and pulled her legs up under her. Taking several deep breaths, she fell into a meditation trance, and several minutes passed before she became aware of something. Or rather, Someone.
She opened her eyes, her mind still in the trance but her senses functioning as if she were outside herself. Someone was at the door, wearing a bright white cape that seemed to twinkle with silver embroidery. A hood covered the figure's head, but the figure threw it back to reveal a mane of fire all around its face. Eyes that Vaiya remembered stared at her, and she knew that she was about to be set free.
The angel had returned.
It did not move, it merely stood at the door to the cell, and its hair seemed to leap out from it like it was alive. The flames lashed out at the controls to the forcefield, and with a pathetic sputter, the barrier died.
Vaiya gracefully slid her feet out from under her, and fell into a bow before the angel. It said to her, in her mind, You must go, Vaiya. Your enemy seeks to strike at your mother and your father yet again. Their faith is not as strong as yours, and this final blow will be their undoing. Yejion does not abandon His own, for He says, "Send my servant Vaiya to be their rescuer, that they might know that I have put my blessing on her, and she will give them hope. But take caution, young Jedi Knight, for temptation awaits you. Do not loose faith in Me, and I will sustain you." So says Yejion.
"But I have no lightsaber," Vaiya whispered, the fear starting to slide into her heart.
Trust in Yejion, and your powers will be strong. Then the angel vanished, leaving Vaiya alone.
She stepped out from her quarters, banishing her fear. She had work to do.
The sith lords had gathered in a circle around Mara, who was bound hand and foot and left in the middle of the chamber, over some giant symbol that she didn't understand. It almost looked like a face, but it had no features, only the red and black streaks that seemed to follow the same pattern as the tattooes on the sith lords' faces. Luke was not too far away, restrained by two very large and dangerous-looking droids. They had dosed him hard with seditives, and he was having a hard time fighting them. It took all his concentration to purify himself. There would be nothing left of him to help her; at least, not in time.
She glanced upward and saw Cal enter the room, looking extraordinarily pleased. He approached her, lightly falling to his knees, bending over her with his arrogant expression close her to face.
"You don't ever give up, do you?" Mara said, her voice extraordinarily calm.
"Never. Why should I? You should consider yourself flattered that I'm willing to go through all this trouble for you."
"I hardly think I'm worth it, Cal," she said, genuinely frustrated. "I mean, why me? What makes me so special? There have to be a hundred thousand women in this galaxy who would gladly be your...your consort, your bride, your whatever. What do you want to do to me now? Cast some kind of spell on me? Your attack on my memory didn't work, your chemicals didn't work, and this won't work, either. Why don't you just walk way while you still have your dignity and your life?"
He simply smiled at her patiently. "Trial and error, my dear Mara Jade," he whispered. "I don't believe in giving up until I've exhausted every possible avenue."
She shook her head. "But for Yejion's sake, Cal! You look like you're barely into your twenties, and I know I'm not a spring Twi'lek anymore. What possible good could I be to you?"
His smile narrowed. "You never did know how I kept my youthful glow, did you? How I was able to trick you all into believing that I was my own son, Jaid?" He sighed and shook his head. "Mara, Mara, my dear Mara. After all this time, your anger still defeats you. I tried to tell you to give in, and let it make you powerful, but you wouldn't listen. Don't you see that all of this has come from the dark side? My youth, my power, even my starship were produced by these men you see before you, these sith lords. Palpatine knew the benefits of bargaining with powers greater and darker than he. I have learned it as well. And in time, you will serve me as you served him. You will learn what I have to offer you, and one day you will thank me."
Mara cast her eyes around the circle. The sith lords, five of them, began to chant. She shuddered to the very core of her soul.
"What are they doing?" she asked, her voice small.
"Preparing to make you immortal," he replied, and stood up, smiling down at her in a twistedly affectionate way. "It will only hurt like hell for a little while. When it's over, you will be thanking me. I guess you could even call it....tough love."
Then he backed away as the chanting grew louder. Mara struggled against her bonds, struggled against the fear that rose in her chest. She could not give in, she had to be calm.
Her eyes searched for Luke's and saw that he was fighting off the seditives with success. But he was not strong enough to get free of the guard droids.
It was then that the sith lords began to glow.
The chanting was so loud and horrific to hear that Mara shut her eyes and her ears in an attempt to mentally block it out, but she was panicing so badly that her attempt failed. Something terrible was rising from these men, some dark magic that she had never encountered before, not even in Palpatine. It was not the Force that was gathering around her, but some evil power that sought to gain entrance into her body, into her soul.
Vaguely, she heard Luke call her name. She reached for him, desperate, and sent him her love. Perhaps this was the end. She was so weary from her battles with Saphringer. Maybe this time Cal was right...he was going to win.
There was a roaring sound, and Mara felt as if she were being siezed by a thousand hands all over her body. The roaring grew louder, rumbling in her chest, and something shot through her, sending an enormous amount of pain into her chest. She screamed with the intensity of it, her mouth opening so wide that it seemed that it was simply not big enough to let the scream out fast enough.
That was when she heard the hum of a lightsaber blade.
No, not one, but seven of them. Five belonged to the sith lords, their red blades shining as they were lifted from their belts. The roaring decreased slightly, and Mara found herself able to lift her head and look toward the main door to the chamber.
With her hand extended into the air, her fingers stretching forth, her mind completely focused on the blades and her face strained with exertion, stood Vaiya. Then something came to her, something familiar that Mara had seen before when the sith lords had attacked them. Her double-ended lightsaber, bright purple in the errie light. She ignited it, adding an eighth saber to the attack, and Mara looked around to see both her and Luke's lightsabers turning on the guard droids. They thrust themselves into their metal chests, and Luke broke free, rushing forward to Mara. But the dark magic was still around her, and had already begun its work, and as he reached her it enveloped him as well. All they could do was cling to each other as they waited for it to pass.
The five blades of the sith lords hovered in the air like a bright crown, and Luke and Mara's sabers joined them, floating over the Skywalkers like sentinels. Vaiya raised her saber over her head. The timing became everything, because the sith lords had been distracted by the efforts of performing their ritual. She had to strike now, or else this would only end in disaster. Slowly, she turned the blades outward, ready to strike at their owners. She felt their masters begin to attempt wresting control of the blades from her, but she held fast, fueled by a power even higher than the Force.
Then, without warning, she saw him.
Larin.
He stood at the other end of the circle, glaring at her in fury. What had happened to him? This was not the man she knew! She heard herself call out his name, and her muscles shuddered as she entirely lost her focus in the confusion. That moment of distraction was all that they needed.
With a cry, Vaiya felt the blades leave her grip and return to their owners' hands. She still had her own saber, and she clenched it tightly, swinging it forward in a last effort to maintain her defense. They turned on her, all five of them. Blue, green, orange, yellow and grey faces all turned on her, fixed in fury at her disruption of their sacred ritual.
Larin was suddenly beside her, bearing a lightsaber that also had a red blade, and he brought it down on top of hers with surprising force. She barely managed to maintain her grip, and quickly attempted to refocus herself so that she could strike back.
But it was over. Another blow, and the saber slipped from her fingers, crashing to the ground. Larin raised his own saber over his head as if to bring it through her body, but there was a crackle followed by the stench of ozone as Force lightning suddenly bombarded both her and Larin, sending them slamming to the nearby wall.
She hit the floor hard, unaware of Larin's presence through the blinding pain. She could not remember ever being hit by Force lightning before. It was not a pleasant experience, and one she knew she would not easily forget. As she tried to rise, they hit her again, and this time she felt her muscles curl into a fetal position as she screamed for mercy.
Then it was over.
The world had gone hazy, but she could feel him. Seth was beside her, lifting her up, holding her close to him as he guided her back into the lift. He had stopped them, had taken pity on her and rescued her. She allowed herself to be supported, leaning hard into him, using him as a crutch, a job he seemed willing to accept. And then, quite clearly, she heard her name through the Force.
Vaiya!
She opened her eyes and forced back the haze. Larin was getting to his feet, his face dazed but his eyes normal. The gleeming maddness seemed to have faded under the attack. He was the man she knew, but only briefly.
He jumped up even as the dark lords approached him, one of them bearing what looked like a syringe. He ran to the lift as it began to lower, his hands slamming against the controls as he fought to stall it. They were on him, grabbing his arms and pulling him back. But his voice carried, and over and over he screamed her name.
"Vaiya!"
She felt Seth's grip on her shoulder tighten as he pulled her closer. She managed to lift her head up just a bit to see his face, and noticed that he was gazing upward, at Larin.
On his face was a small, gloating, victorious smile.